When Darkness Falls
by hyperpsychomaniac
Summary: The pirates stop on the bloc of Marquis for repairs, and find the inhabitants fear leaving their homes at night, scared they'll be attacked by werewolves. It seems like just superstition, until Mahad and Cheng decide to go out that night...
1. Chapter 1

**A/n:** Just the first little bit of this story. I haven't actually finished it yet, so I can't really say what the timing between chapter uploads will be. Have been working on this for AGES. Seriously. I found it in my computer files, half finished, and because I'd already put so much work into it, decided I had to finish it. Which I haven't yet... but hopefully beginning to post it will motivate me more. So... here's the first chapter.

* * *

**When Darkness Falls**

"All clear," stated Wayan, before dropping his gun to his side and strolling into the abandoned room. It was more a formality than anything. He was quite sure there was no one in the old laboratories the pirates were exploring.

"This place is a mess…" grumbled Cortes, stomping in behind him.

The bloc they were now on was in a possibly strategic position to the pirates. It would have been ideal to mount an automated outpost for keeping an eye on the Sphere's movements through the area.

But when the Saint Nazaire had arrived they'd discovered there was a Sphere outpost already there. Thankfully, it had been abandoned, but Cortes had wanted to explore so that they could be entirely sure this were true. So far his and Wayan's search had proved that while it was safe the base took up almost all available space, and the base itself was chock full of the Sphere's junk.

Cortes kicked an offending cardboard box out of the way in frustration. "Any idea what they were doing in here?" he asked, referring to the room they were currently in.

"Um…" Wayan saw a lot of musty notepaper, test tubes, and broken beakers lying haphazardly around on the now not so stainless steel bench tops. "… experiments… of some sort…" He brushed a piece of notepaper aside to see what was under it, and then pulled his hand back with a hiss. "… shit."

Cortes was immediately alert. "What?"

Wayan grimaced and flicked his hand. "Broken beaker… I didn't see it."

"Are you alright?"

Wayan looked at his hand again, and then pressed it to the side of his pants. "Yeah. It was glass, think it's a clean cut…"

"Are you sure?" Cortes pressed. "We can go back to the ship…"

Wayan gave him a look, and smirked. "Now you're just being a mother hen."

Cortes scowled, then huffed, and walked back across the other side of the room. His eyes caught on a rusted first aid box bolted to the wall.

"Might be something in that…" muttered Wayan, who didn't feel like walking around with his hand stuck to his pants for the rest of the trip.

Cortes smacked the box with his fist, because that looked like about the only way to open it easily. The small door swung open with a creak.

All that was inside was a small hand weapon.

Cortes raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently, violence is the cure for everything," Wayan observed, before grabbing up a piece of notepaper instead. He pressed it to his hand.

"Is that clean…?" Cortes asked. He sighed as he saw the amused look Wayan was getting on his face. "Wayan, if you start flapping and making chicken noises I am going to leave you here to bleed out."

"Relax. I'm fine."

"Alright," Cortes sighed, shaking his head. "Let's just get through this place so we can decide what to do with it."

The two men left the room to explore the rest of the base.

----

Seventeen kilometres away, on a nearby bloc, a young woman was fleeing for her life.

This would seem to have little to do with the pirates' exploration of the abandoned Sphere base. There was, however, one commonality. This bloc now held, in one remote corner, another Sphere base. It was the new home of the abandoned base the pirates were now exploring.

It was this the woman was running away from. Behind her, the base melded into a desolate rock face, noticeable only if you looked closely. And if you suddenly happened to glance over to see what had previously appeared to a slab of rock roll back, letting a flash of silver metal escape into the atmosphere.

The woman didn't notice this, so panicked was she as she fled sobbing and completely naked. Not until the metal object smashed into the ground in front of her, clawed landing gear digging into the earth and blocking off her escape route.

She screamed, tried to turn in her tracks, but slipped on loose sand and fell to the ground.

The machine that towered in front of her would appear to be a beast of some kind, except that it was all hard edged metal. A 'tail' of jointed segments extended away from the main body, designed to stop it overbalancing; on the end of this extended stabilisers to keep it steady as it moved through the air. More stabilisers jutted out of the 'head'. The head even had eyes, pinning the woman with a glare, judging the distance she was away. Then a motor whirred, and the thing's jaw dropped.

Suddenly the woman was pinned to the earth by two shafts of metal. One pierced her shoulder; the other went straight through her heart, cutting instantly short any reaction as her body simply went limp.

Motors whirred again; the beast dropped its head to allow the body to be easily dragged into the 'mouth', pulled in by the chains that were attached to the harpoons that had lodged in the woman's body.

The jaw snapped shut as the body became contained within the machines confines. Then the whole creature lifted back up into the air under power from its thrusters, fitted smoothly to the body to maintain the aerodynamics, and the landing gear pulled up to fit flush against the body. It climbed to a height then the thrusters cut. Just as it began to fall, canvas wings folded out from the body, allowing the machine to glide gently down through the entrance to the base it had previously used.

The landing gear didn't come down this time. Instead the machine came into contact with a smooth metal chute, its wings pulling in just before getting caught on the side walls.

Eight seconds later, it had docked with a turntable at the base of the chute, and its engines had powered down with a whine that steadily lowered in pitch and volume to nothing.

The machine's docking bay was silent for a few moments. Dim lighting revealed other similar machines, docked at their own turntables and also silent. Then the door whooshed open and a woman walked in.

"Good, you returned," she smiled, placing a hand on the machine which had just entered the docking bay. She ran the hand up the smooth metal face until her fingers found a button behind a metal joint, and pressed it.

The machine's jaw dropped to the floor, and its engines whirred as it dropped its cargo. The body tumbled out onto the floor.

"Damn it!" the woman stepped back until the body came to rest. She then knelt down, and worked one of the harpoons out of the still warm flesh.

She stood back up and looked at the harpoon. "I've really got to find a better method of retrieval…" she muttered to herself, before throwing it back up into the machine's body.

She wiped her hands on her lab coat, which at some stage had possibly been white. "At least you weren't much of a success," she said, nudging the other woman's body with her toe. "But we couldn't have you running off and telling everybody. Not that they would've listened… would've probably hunted you down instead."

The woman sighed, before pushing her glasses back up her nose, and checking her clipboard. She would have to find another test subject. But that could wait a few days; she would have to make advancements on the formula before finding one. There was no point in repeating failed combinations.

"Alright then," she said, turning back to the machine. She gestured at the body. "Dispose of it."

The machines eyes flashed green, letting her know it had acknowledged the order. Then it reeled the body back inside with the still attached harpoon, and its turntable began to whir as it reorientated for take off.

The woman stayed until the machine had launched, then turned and left, her heels clacking on the steel floors.

----

There was another factor that brought the pirates' and this bloc's fates together. The pirates' had just left the old Sphere base when a critical failure occurred in the Saint Nazaire's left engine. They were lucky that a nearby bloc had an adequate repair facility…


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: **Chapter 2. Review appreciated. :)

* * *

"What are we supposed to do for two whole days!?" groaned Mahad, throwing his hands into the air.

The Saint Nazaire was now docked on a bloc by the name of Marquis. A good part of this bloc was wasteland, but on one end was a sizable village. Sizable enough to have a repair station large enough to cater for the pirates' ship at least.

Even so, it had taken three hours to get the Saint Nazaire docked at the facility. The engineer Cortes had spoken to had talked him around in circles, about proximity to the Sphere, the risk of them being caught tending to a pirate ship… that had stopped once Cortes upped the price he'd pay for them to take a look at the ship. He'd had little choice; the Saint Nazaire had barely been able to limp to the nearby bloc as it was.

Then when they'd landed and had the ship looked at, it had been found that the component that needed replacing had never been intended to be replaced in the first place. Or, as the engineer suggested, they'd just used the ship for longer than they were supposed to, or had not been taken care of it properly. Cortes hadn't liked that suggestion.

The short of it was, to get at the component they'd have to take out half the left engine. This meant the Saint Nazaire had to be in dock for approximately two days.

"I honestly don't care what you choose to do," Cortes grumbled. _Of course_ Mahad was going to whinge. After all the trouble he'd had to go to just taking care of the ship Cortes didn't feel like dealing with that right now.

"Well, we're off to find a tavern, Mahad," said Wayan. "We don't know what to do either… so we're going to find something." He shrugged then stepped past Cortes and out through the open bridge door.

"But that'll take _ages_, looking for something to do! There's probably nothing interesting on this bloc…"

Cortes paused at the door, seething, then swung back around. "Alright, enough Mahad! Great, so you're bored? Well the Saint Nazaire is stuck here for _two days_! That's two days delay on getting back to Puerto Angel; two days delay on getting out to find more water! I don't _care_ if you're bored!" He stepped through the door, and slammed it behind him.

The bang echoed around the bridge for a moment. Mahad blinked. "Well… have fun then! Jeesh."

The Vector came and stood behind Mahad, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Mahad. He's just stressed about the Saint Nazaire."

"I hadn't guessed."

"He's right though."

Mahad groaned again.

"Find something to entertain yourself. You'll find it much more interesting than complaining about being bored."

"Yeah, alright," Mahad sighed, rolling his eyes.

The Vector clapped him on the shoulder again before turning and leaving the bridge.

Probably off to do some 'research', Mahad thought. He watched him leave before taking a look around the bridge. Cheng was the only person still there, mucking about on one of the computers.

Mahad sidled up behind him. "What're you doing?"

Cheng sighed. "Programming something. But it's not really working…"

"Mmm… want to go outside and find something to do?"

Cheng threw him a look. He'd heard the conversation that had just taken place. "I thought you were being bored?"

Mahad sighed. "Why is everyone picking on me?"

Cheng giggled. "Okay, I guess I'll come."

"You shouldn't spend so much time on the computer anyway," prodded Mahad, feeling the need to get back at _someone_, just to keep things fair.

"Hey!" Cheng protested. "Do you want me to come or not?"

"Alright, alright, I was just kidding," Mahad smiled, holding up his hands. "Let's go see what 'fun' this bloc has to offer."

----

The Saint Nazaire is going to be fine, Cortes," smiled Wayan. He sat down on the barstool adjacent to the Captain. After a little wandering around, they had finally managed to locate a tavern. Upon entering, they had found it to be of a decent size, but almost deserted. But then, Wayan had observed, they hadn't seen too many people out on the streets either. There were a few people in the tavern though, and the place was definitely open.

Cortes let out a sigh, venting pent up frustration. "I know. All the same, right now I could really use a drink."

Wayan smiled, and nodded. He wasn't as annoyed as Cortes seemed to be about the ship. But he'd started getting a headache on the way over to the tavern, as well as feeling a little funny. He hadn't told Cortes, because he could just envision him getting fussy over it like he had when he'd cut himself earlier. He was certainly up to going out anyway, and thought he could use a drink too.

"What'll it be?" the barman asked, as he moved over to the side of the bar they had chosen to sit at.

"Whatever's warm and on tap," Cortes replied.

"Too easy," the barman smiled, and went off to get their drinks.

"You shouldn't let Mahad get to you so much either," Wayan continued.

Cortes scowled. "I don't. I just don't see why he has to complain so much about 'being bored'. There are far worse things than being bored. It'd do him good to find that out for himself one day."

Wayan shrugged. "Maybe it's just a teenage thing."

"Here you go!" said the barman, plonking two glasses down so hard that they almost sloshed over.

"Thanks," Cortes muttered.

"No problem. I need the business on nights like this." He gestured around the nearly empty tavern.

"You're a bloody liar, Henry," grumbled a man from the other end of the bar, who looked like he'd already had a few drinks. "You don't need anymore business. You just keep us here talking 'til it's not safe to go home. Then what're we supposed to do?"

Henry the barman shrugged. "Stop drinking? Have some nuts, they're free."

The man glared at him, then sighed. "Can I have another beer? _Please_?"

Henry grinned. "No problem."

Cortes had started his drink, and seemed to be ignoring, or at least trying to ignore, the locals' verbal sparring. But something about the conversation had caught Wayan's attention.

"What do you mean by 'not safe'?" he asked the man.

"Hm?" The man looked at him for a moment, trying to see through his haze and recognize who was talking to him. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?"

Wayan shook his head.

"Our ship broke down," Cortes clarified.

"Ah. Then you wouldn't know nothing about why it's not a good idea to walk around after dark – especially if there's a full moon."

Cortes raised an eyebrow, and looked at Wayan. "Really?" Then he turned his attention back to his drink, clearly deciding what he was about to hear would contain little factual information.

The man sighed. "It's alright. You don't have to believe me. But be careful if you decide to go back to your ship."

"He's right," put in Henry as he floated past behind the bar to serve another customer. "Better stay here all night. Definitely safe here."

"Shut up, Henry."

"What would we need to be careful of?" Wayan prodded, still curious.

Cortes was now giving him a 'please don't get the crazy man talking again' look.

The man smiled. Clearly, he really wanted to tell his story. "Well, some people say…"

----

"I was right, this place sucks."

It was two hours since Mahad and Cheng had left the Saint Nazaire. At first, they'd found a few people around, and a place to eat. That wasn't exactly at the top of Mahad's fun list, but at that moment hunger had been a higher priority than fun.

Weird thing was, as the two boys had finished eating and were just sitting there, mostly because Cheng had been groaning about getting up and taking _another_ long walk, one of the waitresses had come and practically chased them off.

"It's not like we're taking up room for other customers…" Mahad had protested gesturing around at the few other empty tables scattered in front of the street side café.

"We're closing," the waitress had said simply, sharply. Then she'd yanked Cheng's chair out from under him, taken it hurriedly inside, and slammed the door behind her. Amusingly enough, leaving all the other tables and chairs exactly where they were.

The two boys now sat on a concrete wall overlooking what appeared to be an industrial worksite. "There's no one anywhere…" Cheng muttered. No one seemed to be there either, but that was probably normal for so late in the afternoon. Beyond this was nothing but clear sky, and the edge of an almost full moon peaking over the lip of the bloc in the twilight.

"Moon…" Mahad pointed, rather obviously.

"Mmm…" said Cheng, who didn't think it was that interesting either, but they had nothing else to look at.

"I hope you boys aren't planning on staying out here too much longer," said a voice from behind them.

Mahad and Cheng turned, and Cheng stood up quickly, fearing his seat may once again be snatched from under him. Despite the fact it was made of a good few tons of concrete.

A lady in a bright orange work shirt stood there, her arms folded. "It's getting dark. And the moon's almost full."

"Ah… yeah… hi…" said Mahad. What connection did a full moon have with getting to bed on time?

The lady looked at him hard for a moment then glanced nervously up at the moon. "I'm going home now. I've probably stayed out too late as it is. I suggest you two do the same."

"It's not even sundown," frowned Cheng.

"Yeah, and that's when it gets _really_ dangerous," she snapped. She hurriedly grabbed up a tool bag, looked like she was about to leave, but then paused again. "You two really don't have clue, do you?"

"Apparently not…" said Mahad, raising an eyebrow. Their visit to the bloc was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

"Look, you can't stay out here. There's too much of a chance you'll be taken. My house isn't far from here…"

"It's okay," said Mahad quickly, "we'll just, ah… go back to our ship." There was no way he was going back to a crazy lady's house.

"Ship, right. That's why you're so clueless," said the lady, shaking her head. She pointed a finger at them both. "Make sure you do. I'm serious." Then she turned and hurriedly left.

"What is _with_ this bloc?" grumbled Mahad once the lady was out of earshot. "They're even more paranoid than Cortes!"

"They're obviously scared of something that comes out at night…" said Cheng, looking around nervously. "Maybe we _should_ go back to the ship…"

Mahad laughed. "What's going to come out? A moth?"

Cheng shrugged. "I don't know. But they probably have a better idea what's on this bloc than we do."

"Or," Mahad offered, "they just run inside every night. And really have no clue what's out there at all. Come on, you're not scared of the dark on Puerto Angel. It's exactly the same. Let's just take a look around some more."

"What's the point? Everybody's hiding inside!"

"Come on, Cheng! Where's your sense of adventure? What could possibly be out there?"

----

"_Werewolves_?" said Cortes, his eyebrows going up perhaps even higher.

The man at the bar, who turned out to be called Geoffrey, nodded solemnly. Then he ordered another drink. "People have seen them. When they've been out at night, and they know they shouldn't be. We've been told it's a bad idea to go out at night," he shook his head. "It's mostly around the full moon. The werewolves come out, and if they bite you, you turn into one. And people _have_ gone missing. Probably off wandering the hills and howling at the moon. And biting other people. They should've listened to the mayor… but then, I suppose that's what you get when people keep telling those stories about the dragons."

"Dragons?" Wayan sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Yeah, there're a few people who reckon they're out in the wilds of the bloc." Geoff snorted. "Heh, dragons. No such thing as dragons."

"Of course not, that would be silly," muttered Cortes.

Wayan was now starting to regret asking Geoffrey to explain further. He'd obviously had far too much to drink. He was also starting to regret even coming out; his headache was starting to get worse. He was probably coming down with something. "I think I'm going back to the ship," he said, standing up. The room spun around him for a brief moment, but he ignored it until it settled.

"You feeling all right?" Cortes asked, looking concerned.

"Mother…"

"Alright, _alright_!" He certainly wasn't having Wayan call him that in a tavern. "I'll come back in a little while." He really didn't want to have to listen to any more crazy stories; but he did want to finish his drink.

Wayan smiled. "Sure."

"Hey, you're not going are you?" asked Henry, rushing over to their side of the bar, a worried look on his face.

Wayan waved him off, and headed out the door.

"He's a big boy. He can look after himself," growled Cortes, shaking his head, and deciding he was going to finish off his drink quick smart and get out of there. Going to the local tavern had really done nothing to alleviate his stress levels.

Henry was starting to look really nervous. "Look, I know Geoff likes his grog. And we like to joke about the whole stay inside at night thing. But, seriously, everyone here _is_ going to stay all night. It just isn't safe outside."

Cortes had just about had enough. "Because of werewolves?"

"Well, yeah…"

"So," Cortes continued, leaning over the bar, "you've seen one then?"

"Well, no, I haven't actually seen one. But I've heard stories…"

"Like Geoff's?"

"Everyone on the bloc knows the stuff Geoff was telling you guys. That's just general knowledge."

Cortes turned to Geoff. "Have _you_ ever seen a werewolf?"

"Well…" Geoff drawled. "I thought I saw something one night, when I was stupid enough to bother coming home from the tavern after dark…"

Cortes snorted. "That counts for a lot."

"But there are people that have seen them, real close…" Henry tried.

"Who?" Cortes snapped.

"I've seen one." The thin man, sitting by himself at a table across the room had kept quiet up until now.

Cortes turned around. "Oh, have you?"

"Yeah." He paused for a brief moment. "It attacked my daughter."

Cortes didn't have a quick retort for that.

"Yeah," said Henry, polishing a glass, "Andre's seen one."

Cortes paused for a moment, deciding whether to pursue the issue. "How do you know it was a werewolf that attacked her?" he asked, keeping the sharp tone out of his voice.

Andre looked at him, his gaze not quite focused, though Cortes was unsure if it was because he had had too much to drink. "I saw it. Right over her. Big and hairy with lots of teeth. It left when I shot at it. But it had already bitten her pretty bad. I suppose she may have survived if she lived long enough for it to take her over – they heal real quick you know. But I wasn't going to let her turn into one of those things."

Cortes swallowed, his mind all too easily filling in the blanks. He still wasn't buying the werewolf thing. But the people on Marquis certainly seemed to. Enough to kill someone they cared about, just because they thought they were going to turn into a werewolf.

"I think I'll be taking my leave," he growled, getting up and leaving his almost finished drink on the counter.

Henry sighed, still polishing his glass. "See ya." He shook his head as the Captain left the tavern without a reply or backward glance. "Stupid, stupid tourists."

----

If Wayan had known he would feel this terrible beforehand, he would have never left the Saint Nazaire. He'd barely walked a few streets from the tavern when he'd broken into a cold sweat; his head now felt as if it were about to explode.

He knew that he simply needed to get back to the ship, and then he would be okay. But that thought was intermittent. Wayan kept forgetting that was his objective as his immune system struggled to deal with whatever had so suddenly and violently attacked it.

He groaned and paused for a moment, leaning heavily against a brick wall. He knew he could beat this. He wasn't the type of guy to just pack it all in because he felt a little bit sick. That was all it was, really, he just had to get back to the Saint Nazaire. It wasn't far, was it?

By now night had fallen, though the streets were not quite dark, as the nearly full moon lit up everything that wasn't managing to hide in the shadow of the bloc's numerous buildings. Wayan was able to see a familiar landmark; they'd passed that broken street lamp on the way to the tavern, he was sure.

He drew in a breath, and stepped away from the shadow of the wall. That was when the pain hit him; agony swept across his chest like his ribs were breaking. Wayan let out a cry and dropped to his knees, fighting back tears, his fingers gripping into the dusty street.

But the pain didn't stop, and as far as Wayan knew, he simply passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

Cortes didn't manage to catch up with Wayan on the way back to the Saint Nazaire. He wasn't worried though, as Wayan could probably walk faster than him anyway. He figured he had also gone straight to bed, especially as he didn't seem to be feeling too well when he'd left the tavern.

Cortes huffed to himself, dropping all thoughts of whether Wayan would be alright. He'd climbed the side of the Saint Nazaire, only to find the lights still on in his cabin. While he didn't really mind his crew making themselves at home, there were a few nights he'd actually gone to sleep in his Captain's chair, simply because he hadn't the heart to throw them out. He didn't feel that way tonight.

"Evening, Sir," Dahlia smiled as Cortes stepped in through the open cabin door.

She, the Vector and Lena were sitting around the table, playing cards. A few faded, previously brightly coloured chips were scattered about and piled in stacks of varying heights in front of the three players.

Cortes observed all this, and then sighed. "Vector, you're not teaching them to gamble?!" He wasn't sure whether he should be angry about this use of his cabin; at that moment he was tired and simply felt mildly stunned.

The Vector threw Dahlia a look. "Now, why does he automatically blame me?"

Lena giggled, and promptly dropped a card. "Don't look!" she exclaimed as she hurriedly grabbed it back up.

"Like you haven't been cheating," scoffed Dahlia. "Poking about in people's heads…"

"I stopped when the sun went down!"

"Gee, I wonder why…"

Cortes sighed again. Then he paused, frowning. "Where are Mahad and Cheng?" He hadn't seen any other lights on in the ship when he'd come up.

The Vector shrugged. "Still out I presume."

"Are you sure?"

"I haven't seen them come back."

"I haven't either," said Dahlia.

Lena nodded.

Cortes growled to himself, and seemed uncertain.

"It's not that late, Cortes," said the Vector soothingly. "I'm sure they'll be back soon. Just relax."

"That's when things start to go wrong," Cortes snapped. "I'm not comfortable with them being out after dark here. And it isn't actually that early."

The Vector frowned, and glanced at the clock on the cabin wall. "You're right… I hadn't realised how long we'd been playing."

"They should be back…"

"Don't get yourself worked up. They've probably just found something fun…"

Cortes shook his head. "No. This bloc is practically dead after dark. There is nothing 'fun' to do here, especially if you're Mahad." He snorted. "Apparently no one here goes out at night because they think they'll get eaten by something."

"Like what?" Dahlia asked.

"… werewolves…" muttered Cortes. He seemed uncomfortable just saying the word.

"Werewolves?" repeated the Vector. Suddenly he seemed to be deep in thought.

"Of course I don't believe it," Cortes continued. "But it might not be a good idea for them to be out at night – someone might mistake them for a monster and decide to shoot them or something."

"They wouldn't really just shoot them… would they?" said Lena, starting to look worried.

Cortes just looked at her.

"If that's the case, perhaps we should go find them," said Dahlia.

Cortes nodded. "I agree."

"I'll come help," she said, standing up. "They couldn't have gone too far."

"Let me come too," said Lena, hurriedly leaping to her feet.

"No, Lena, you stay here," said Cortes. "It's safer."

"But Mahad…"

"… is only going to have me to be afraid of," the Captain growled. "They shouldn't be out this late anyway."

"Don't worry, Lena," said the Vector. "They'll find them. You can help me. There's something Cortes has just reminded me of."

"Okay."

Cortes looked at the Vector for a moment, but the older man didn't offer any further information. Cortes turned and gestured Dahlia out the door ahead of himself, then followed.

"You don't really think they're in any danger, Sir?" Dahlia asked as they stepped off the Saint Nazaire's deck and into the now deserted repair station.

"From werewolves? No. But irrational fear can make people do stupid things. I wouldn't like to think that Cheng and Mahad got themselves caught up in anything, or got hurt because of that."

"That bad?"

Cortes nodded. "Yes. It's almost like 'the prophecy' used to be. As near as I can tell the whole bloc believes it. There's certainly no one out on the streets. I haven't talked to many people, but those I did all believed there were werewolves out there. And I think they were the brave ones – they were in the tavern, not hiding in their homes. Everyone here truly believes that werewolves exist."

Dahlia frowned at the comparison. "Believing some monster is going to devour you is a bit more morbid than believing someone's going to come and save you."

Cortes shrugged. "Aye. But believing you need to stay in your house isn't likely to get people killed."

Dahlia grimaced, and decided to focus on the werewolves. "Perhaps if they think there's something out there… I don't know, maybe there _is_ something, if not werewolves…"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe there are wild dogs or something around?"

Cortes huffed, but Dahlia didn't miss that he also checked that his gun was at his side. "Let's just find Cheng and Mahad before they get themselves into trouble."

----

"Mahad! Just admit that you're lost!"

Mahad walked a few paces down the street, then looked up, around, and slowly turned back to Cheng. "Okay." He paused, spreading his arms to encompass their immediate surroundings. "We're. Lost." He paused again, as if waiting for something to happen. "Well, that didn't get us anywhere."

Cheng groaned, and rolled his eyes. "I want to go back to the ship."

"Relax. The bloc's not that big, we'll find it eventually."

"You said that an hour ago. And it's late."

"You said _that_ an hour ago."

"… no I didn't!"

"Mm. My mistake."

"Mahad!"

The two boys were now on, as far as they could tell, a completely unremarkable street on the bloc of Marquis. It certainly looked no different than any of the others they seemed to be walking continually down, up, around, and through for the past few hours.

"Okay, okay," Mahad smiled, realising he was probably being just a little bit mean. "Calm down. There's nothing here that's going to hurt us, I promise. It's almost as bright as day anyway."

"Yeah, but…"

Mahad walked back to Cheng, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're worried about what that woman told us."

"Well…"

"I'm sure she was just joking around."

"I don't think so," Cheng chewed his lip, and looked down at the ground. "I'm getting scared, Mahad."

"Hey, I'm here. I have my boomerang." He pulled the weapon out, and waved it. "We'll be fine, promise."

"I suppose."

Mahad squeezed his shoulder, then stepped back and put away his boomerang. "Now…" he paused, trying to get his bearings. He picked a random direction. "I'm pretty sure we came this way." He headed in the direction he had indicated.

"We did!" Cheng groaned. "When we were lost!" He sighed, and went to follow Mahad, but suddenly noticed a street sign that looked familiar. "Mahad? I think it might be this way." He wandered in the direction of the sign, searching for something else familiar.

"No. I'm pretty sure it's this way," Mahad replied, not even bothering to turn around.

Cheng walked to the foot of the sign, and stared up at it, thinking. He was unsure if it was one he'd seen walking from the ship, or when they'd been wandering around lost. He huffed, and then turned back around.

"… Mahad?"

Mahad had disappeared completely from view. Around Cheng was now nothing but empty, moonlit streets. He was completely alone. He swallowed, and felt his chest tighten. "Mahad!?" he tried again, his voice faltering.

There was no answer.

The boy drew in a breath, and forced himself to think clearly. He'd seen Mahad barely moments ago. He couldn't have gone far. He walked quickly back to where he'd last seen him then looked around again. Which of the alleyways had he been heading up? Suddenly, it was difficult to remember.

As Cheng pondered this, something behind him transferred itself from one building's shadow to another. It barely revealed itself in the bright moonlight, but then, it was relying more on stealthy movements to keep itself unseen, rather then complete invisibility.

Cheng neither heard nor saw it. But afraid as he already was, he could somehow feel a presence. Like something was watching him.

"Mahad? Is that you?" He spun around suddenly, thinking he heard something. The street behind him was empty.

Cheng swallowed and took a step back from where he'd imagined the sound. And felt hot, damp breath down the back of his neck.

He froze to the spot, his mind telling him to run, his body refusing to obey. He managed a single step forward.

Something threw him violently to the ground from behind, pushing between his shoulders blades and shoving his face into the dirt. Then Cheng felt a sudden rush of pain as his invisible attacker ripped into his back.

----

"Yeah, I'm sure it's this way," said Mahad. "Cheng…?"

A terrible sound rifted through the air, chilling Mahad and causing him to freeze to the spot. The sound lasted no more than a second. It was high pitched and piercing, then it suddenly cut short, leaving the night as quiet as it had been before.

"Heh…" Mahad slowly regained control of his frozen limbs. "Must've been some sort of night bird…" Now he turned around. "Cheng?"

The street was completely empty behind him. He was startled for the briefest of moments. Until it hit him what the sound had been: "Cheng!"

He took off down the street at a run, and then skidded to a halt as he came to a corner. Which way had he come?

"Cheng?! Where are you, buddy?"

There was no answer. But then Mahad thought he heard a noise from his left, like something being dragged. Mahad turned, and the first thing he saw was two points of glowing light. Then his eyes adjusted to the shadows.

One time, back in flight school in one of those pointless history classes, Mahad had been shown an old video recording. The lesson had been about extinct Earth animals, and the footage had shown a lion hunting. According to the teacher, it had been a young male which still hadn't quite learned how to hunt properly. It had had some sort of baby antelope clamped in its jaws. But rather than holding it by the throat, it had the creature closer to the shoulder. The antelope hadn't been killed instantly and still kicked occasionally, but the lion's greater size meant escape was impossible.

The creature that crouched before Mahad now did not look like that lion. It was bigger, and so dark that it almost disappeared into the shadows.

But below those glowing green eyes, in its jaws, it held Cheng like the lion had held the young antelope.

Mahad swallowed, his eyes wide. And then his mind kicked into gear. "Hey… hey, let him go!"

He drew his boomerang, and took a step towards the creature.

The creature snarled, white teeth flashing briefly in the moonlight and its lips contorting but remaining firmly clamped on Cheng's upper arm. It jerked forwards, dragging Cheng roughly over the ground, and then dodged backwards as if it were afraid Mahad would take its catch.

Mahad stopped advancing, scared. How was he supposed to stop it without hurting Cheng?

The creature growled, and then started shuffling backwards, awkwardly dragging Cheng.

"Leave him alone!" Mahad aimed and then threw the boomerang at the beast's head. Hurt Cheng or otherwise, he was already hurt, and he had to get him free _now_.

It made contact. The creature yelped in shock and released its grip on Cheng, dropping him to the ground.

Cheng let out a brief whimper and cowered close to the ground.

The boomerang bounced into a wall, and then skittered under the creature's feet.

Mahad took a step forward, intending to get to Cheng before the creature recovered.

The beast howled, loud and long. Then it stood upright.

Mahad froze to the spot. The creature now stood as tall as a man, though slightly hunched over. It took a step forward, placing itself over Cheng, and Mahad's boomerang squarely behind it.

Mahad could neither retrieve his weapon nor help Cheng. He was unwilling to retreat, though fear gripped him so tight he could no longer think of anything to yell. He just stared at the beast, waiting for it to do something, anything.

There was the crack of a gunshot.

The creature stumbled backwards, yelped and put a paw to its shoulder.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Before Mahad knew what was happening Cortes was beside him and then past him, far closer to the creature than he himself would have dared to get.

Cortes stood above Cheng and emptied his gun's ammunition into the beast's chest.

The beast only took two direct hits, and then something like blue Seijin energy appeared in front of it, flickering as it absorbed the rest of the energy bullets.

Cortes' gun clicked. Discharged. Useless.

The shield dropped. The beast snarled and raised a paw into the air.

"Cortes, look out!" Mahad yelled.

Cortes didn't run. He dropped to his knees and threw his arms around Cheng's shaking, bleeding form. Protecting him with the only thing he could – his own body.

Something yellow flashed in the corner of Mahad's field of vision. Then it smashed into the paw that was about to come down upon Cortes.

Dahlia was now standing beside Mahad. She drew back another arrow, entirely focused on her target.

The creature put up its shield again, but it had been weakened by the hit it had just received, and the shield seemed to falter as the second arrow hit it.

Another arrow was drawn back. When it hit the shield dropped.

The beast snarled; Dahlia drew back another arrow.

It hit empty space.

The beast had moved so fast it had almost been a blur. It now stood at the side of the small street, one paw against the wall. It snarled again, and then turned and scaled the wall, disappearing in an instant over the top.

"Where'd it go!?" said Mahad, looking around as if he expected the creature to reappear again from nowhere.

"Mahad!" Dahlia snapped. She had moved so that she stood directly next to Cortes. If the creature came back, it'd have to go through her. "Help him." She half nodded towards Cortes, but her eyes were flicking around their immediate surroundings, alert for any movement that would indicate the creature had returned.

Cortes didn't look up. It was as if neither Dahlia or Mahad – or some wild animal that could reappear at any moment – were there. Only Cheng.

He was in bad shape. Mahad could see red seeping through the back of his shirt, which itself was torn and tattered. His right arm was a mess, and sticking out at an angle that didn't quite look right.

"Hang on, son." Cortes pulled Cheng up gently from the ground, careful where he touched him. "It's okay, I've got you…"

Cheng whimpered, and gripped onto Cortes' jacket with his good hand.

Mahad just stood and stared, for a moment stunned and unsure of exactly what he was supposed to do.

"Mahad!" Dahlia snapped again.

Mahad blinked, and then brought himself back to reality. There was a lot of blood; Cheng might really be in trouble. He looked around, uncertain for a moment, and not getting any guidance from either Dahlia or Cortes, who were both entirely focused on their respective tasks.

Then he spotted a makeshift clothesline, strung across the street between two opposite windows. He ran underneath it then jumped, catching the tail end of a sheet. A couple of pegs flew into the air and skittered off the brick walls as the sheet was released. Mahad ran back with it.

"Here," he said, kneeling down beside Cortes. He spoke because it seemed the Captain wouldn't even notice he was there if he said nothing.

Cortes looked directly at him for the briefest of moments. His eyes were glassy, and Mahad could only think that the Captain was more scared than he had ever seen him. It scared Mahad.

Cortes took the sheet, saying nothing, and then was entirely focused on Cheng again. He wrapped the sheet around Cheng's back, and then carefully positioned the boy's arm so he could pull the sheet right around him. He finished, then pulled Cheng close and stood upright.

Cheng let out a brief sob, but then was quiet again, his face buried in Cortes' neck. His whole body shook.

"We need to find a hospital," Cortes growled out, his voice strained.

"I think I saw one when we were wandering around," offered Mahad. He'd just gone to pick up his fallen boomerang, and now came back and stood beside Cortes and Dahlia.

"Can you find it again?" Dahlia asked. Her energy bow was still drawn.

Mahad paused, and then nodded. His sense of direction on Marquis had proven to be quite bad so far, but the stakes were now far higher than just getting home late. He _had_ to find it again. "Yeah. I can do that."

He took the lead, hoping that he would actually be capably of finding his way. Cortes followed, holding Cheng close, and Dahlia brought up the rear, ever vigilant in case the beast reappeared.

The streets were still deserted. No one was about, although one may have noticed lights in some of the houses; lights that flickered out as the small party passed by. And out in the night, somewhere on the bloc where it couldn't be seen, something howled.

----

"It's not good enough, Julian," the older man frowned.

"I don't see what else we're supposed to do…" Julian shrugged from the other side of the table – a gesture that he'd meant to show he'd like to help, if he could.

Andrew, Marquis' resident doctor, just thought it looked like the mayor wasn't as bothered as he should be.

He, his wife Lizzie, and Julian the bloc's mayor sat in Marquis' hospital waiting room. At the moment, there was no one else there. Andrew and Lizzie both thought that this was because of everyone's fear of the werewolves. It was one of the things they had called the mayor over to discuss.

"Everyone is too scared to come here when it's full moon. We've had a few incidents with people really in trouble because they've stayed home when they should've come for medical attention."

Lizzie nodded in agreement with her husband. "We've had a woman recently who went into labour and wouldn't come to the hospital…"

Julian nodded. "Yeah, okay… but don't they know when that's going to happen? You could get them to come to hospital just before the full moon?"

Lizzie said nothing in reply, but Andrew squeezed her hand under the table. "It is a problem, Julian."

"Look, I understand. But the werewolves _are_ dangerous. We all know that. People are going to be in lots more trouble if they go out to come here and run into one out there…"

"_If_ they're out there…" said Andrew, staring hard at the other man.

Julian frowned. "What do you mean, my friend?" He returned the stare, unblinking.

Andrew sighed, breaking the shared look. "Think about it, when is the last time someone's seen one?"

"A few months ago. You know that."

"_Something_ attacked that girl, yes," Andrew agreed, "But her father didn't actually see it properly. So maybe it is a bad idea to go out at night… but we may not actually know why."

"Werewolves…?" Julian frowned, as if the answer were obvious. He quickly glanced up at the clock on the wall, although he already knew it was far too late for him to get home before it was 'unsafe.' He'd have to stay put all night now. Lead by example…

If it had been anyone else who had asked to speak to him, Julian would have turned them down until a later date. Or hoped they'd forget to ask him again. Especially if the topic was about the werewolves.

But Andrew and Lizzie would not forget so easily. They had this almost infuriating way of caring about everything that happened to everyone on the bloc – Julian assumed it came with the profession. But he'd noticed they were well respected, most likely for that very reason. More respected then he was himself, and he would freely admit this.

That was the other reason he would come to them, and not anyone else. The two held much sway with everyone on Marquis. It was a good idea to listen to their concerns and to make an attempt to address them. If those two were beginning to doubt the idea of staying indoors on a moonlit night, the rest of the bloc would soon think the same.

"Maybe. But possibly not," Andrew continued, "we don't know for sure. Maybe it's something we need to be sure of. We need to find whatever this is… find out _what_ it is…"

Julian nodded, trying to think. Witch hunts… well, werewolf hunts were not something he thought the bloc needed. Perhaps they needed to be convinced, again, that it was werewolves before they did something stupid…

Andrew was still speaking when he felt his wife squeeze his hand back. "Listen, did you hear that?"

"… no…"

"Then listen!" she snapped.

Andrew listened, and Julian did as well.

"I can't…" Andrew started.

The sound was unmistakable this time. A long, drawn out howl.

All three froze, exchanging glances.

Then there was a loud rapping at the front door.

----

"Hello!?" Mahad pounded on the door for a second time. Louder and longer.

Dahlia stood a short distance away, her bow drawn, watching the street like a hawk.

"Hey, open up!"

Cortes was leaving getting through the door to Mahad. He was too busy trying to keep Cheng as comfortable as he could; which was difficult, because Cheng was anything but comfortable. He at least seemed content with clinging onto Cortes as tightly as possible. He may not have even been conscious.

The door finally opened under Mahad's banging fist.

"Yeah?" It was a man in about his mid-forties who answered, only opening the door partway and peering cautiously out. He looked at Mahad, his expression saying he didn't recognise the boy. Then he focused past him on Cortes holding Cheng in the bloodied sheet.

The door opened all the way. "What happened?" the man asked, suddenly concerned.

Mahad could now see inside to what looked like an ordinary lounge room, though with many more chairs then would seem normal. He quickly realised it was the hospital's waiting room. Inside there was a woman about the age of the man who'd answered the door, and a younger man. The woman was now getting up, looking concerned.

"Some kind of creature attacked him… pretty bad…" said Mahad.

At this revelation the man at the door seemed to freeze then slowly looked across the room to the younger man.

The woman had also paused and looked at the younger man, as if waiting for him to comment.

"What kind of creature?" the younger man finally asked, carefully, forcefully.

"I don't know…" said Mahad, not even sure why it mattered.

"It was a werewolf," Cortes snapped, focusing everyone's attention on himself. He was still holding tightly onto Cheng, but now stared hard at the three, anger evident in his eyes. "At least, I think that's what you'd call it."

"Werewolf…?" frowned Mahad.

It was the wrong thing to say. The man at the door suddenly looked scared, his eyes went wide then he looked across at the younger man again.

The younger man shook his head.

"Andrew…" the woman said, but got no further.

"I'm sorry," Andrew said, his voice now cold and detached. "But we can't help you."

The door was shut.

"Hey!" Cortes took a half step towards the door then stopped short.

Mahad looked at him, then down at Cheng. Then he had to look away. "They can't do that!?" He banged on the door again. "Hey!"

Cortes stared at the closed door.

"Can they!?" Mahad demanded again.

"We're going." Cortes finally spoke. "Back to the Saint Nazaire." He stepped back from the door, glaring at it as if it had personally done him wrong.

"But what about Cheng?"

"He's not getting help here," Cortes snarled. He turned and walked past Dahlia. "Come on."

Dahlia threw a glance at Mahad, looking somewhat frightened, and then followed Cortes, who wasn't exactly making it easy to keep up.

Mahad paused for a moment, then quickly bent and picked up a stone from the street. He aimed, and threw it at one of the hospital's windows. It bounced harmlessly off the brick wall. Then he ran to catch up with the others.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n:** This fic has seriously taken me _ages_ to write (mostly due to slackness). Any reviews/comment/concrit/feedback is greatly appreciated. :)

* * *

"Are you sure it's not coincidence, Vector?" asked Lena.

The Vector and Lena were in Cortes' cabin. The cards and chips had been replaced by a laptop and loose bits of paper that the Vector had been scribbling all over. They were both staring at the laptops screen intently; it showed the information files that Cheng had retrieved from the old Sphere base's computer systems.

"It can't be," the Vector shook his head. "This is fascinating…"

"VECTOR!"

Cortes' voice boomed so loud that Lena jumped.

"Oh, what does he want now?" the Vector frowned, having just had to catch the few loose sheets of paper that Lena had knocked from the desk. He didn't appreciate being yelled at from across the other side of the ship. He walked to the cabin door and peered out, mentally preparing something to say that would annoy the Captain, as he was obviously in a bad mood. It didn't mean he had to shout at him.

Cortes stood halfway up the deck, a bloodied bundle in his arms. It took the Vector a fraction of a second to realise it held Cheng.

"Vector, you've got to do something, Cheng's hurt," panted Mahad, coming up behind Cortes on the deck.

Cortes didn't say anything. He didn't need to. There were few times he would come to the Vector for help, but when he did it meant he really needed it.

The Vector asked no questions; not yet. "Okay don't worry, he's going to be alright. Just take him down to the room with the medical supplies."

"Are you sure he's going to be alright?" Mahad asked. "What can I do?"

"Stay with Lena in the cabin," said the Vector simply.

Mahad opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again. What good would frustrating everyone do? He glanced over to see Lena poking her head out of the cabin wondering what was going on, and decided that he didn't want her to have to see Cheng right now.

"What's going on, Mahad?" she asked as he rushed up to her.

"Cheng's been hurt…" Mahad explained, figuring it would do no good lying to her. He just didn't want her to have to see Cheng.

"Is he alright?!"

"Yeah, I think he will be. Vector's looking after him."

"What happened?"

He had now succeeded in getting her to step back into the cabin. "Something attacked him while we were outside… Cortes said it was a… werewolf." He frowned, because he couldn't imagine Cortes believing in something like a werewolf. But then… he remembered seeing the creature. Werewolf was a fairly accurate description.

"Werewolf?" repeated Lena.

"Yeah…"

"Mahad, I think you'd better take a look at some of the stuff Vector and I was looking through…"

"Okay, why?"

"Because that bloc the Sphere base was on? They were keeping information there on werewolves. And I don't think the Sphere is all that interested in fiction."

----

In the medical supply room, Cortes carefully placed an unconscious Cheng on the single flat bed that was there.

Dahlia was already at the medical supplies; something was tossed out of the cupboard she was going through and hit the floor with a bang.

"Careful, I think he's broken his arm," said Cortes as the Vector pushed past him. The older man had to push, as Cortes didn't seem that keen to move away from Cheng.

"Alright, I've got plenty of bandages…" said Dahlia as she pulled out a whole box, spilling a few rolled up bandages from the top of it.

The Vector nodded, and started removing the bloodied sheet from around Cheng's body. It was now well past its limited capacity to absorb any more fluid. "Don't worry Cortes, you know I'll be careful," he said, almost dismissively.

"Look, if there's anything I can do to help…" said Cortes. He just stood there staring at Cheng.

The Vector looked up at him, then across at Dahlia. She had already found something to do to help, while the Captain just stood there looking lost.

"Maybe you'd better just wait outside with Mahad and Lena."

"I…" Cortes started, as if to protest. But then he just shut his mouth, turned around and walked out.

Dahlia brought over what she had retrieved from the cupboard. "Are you _sure_ he's going to be alright?" she asked, handing him a wad of bandages.

The Vector took them off her. "I hope so. It doesn't look like anything vital is damaged."

"He's lost a lot of blood…"

"I know."

They were both silent for the next few minutes, as the Vector worked on Cheng and Dahlia passed him what he needed, and held Cheng's hand in between.

"Dahlia…" said the Vector finally. He had not failed to notice that Cheng's wounds looked very much like teeth and claw marks. "… did something attack Cheng?"

"Yeah," Dahlia swallowed, and then looked up at him. "A werewolf."

----

It was after midnight when the Vector returned to the cabin and told Cortes, Lena and Mahad that Cheng was going to be okay. "It just… might take awhile."

Cortes just gave him a tired look. He stood, pushed past him and headed off to go see Cheng for himself.

Dahlia was still sitting with Cheng when the Captain walked tentatively into the room. "How is he?"

"Asleep," Dahlia replied. "He'll be okay, Sir."

Cortes sighed. "I know, the Vector told me."

Dahlia stood up. "I'll leave you alone for a bit."

Cortes nodded to her as she left the room then took her place next to Cheng.

The boy was fast asleep, his stomach rising and falling gently with each breath. It almost looked like he was simply asleep, if it hadn't been for the bandages around his chest and back, and his arm in a sling.

Cortes swallowed, and then reached out a hand to squeeze Cheng's hand gently. "I'm sorry, son."

Cheng didn't respond, and Cortes just hoped he was too out of it to feel any pain.

----

The Vector stood some distance away up the ship's corridor, back against the wall, arms folded. Now that he had made sure Cheng was alright, his mind was churning over everything he'd learned in the past few hours.

The information he'd gone through from the Sphere base, along with the stories of the werewolves from Marquis had been interesting. But coupled with what had happened to Cheng, what the rest of the pirates – whom he trusted far more than a couple of drunk men in a bar – had seen, brought the 'stories' to a whole new level. Something had to be going on on the bloc; maybe in this whole region of Skyland. And whatever it was involved a werewolf, or something that shared so many of its characteristics that it was easily confused with the beast.

"Are we going to tell Cortes about the werewolf stuff?" Mahad asked. He and Lena had said nothing to Cortes whilst they'd been waiting in the cabin with him. He'd sat so still and focused and hadn't even talked to them that they'd felt too uncomfortable to say anything.

"I think he already knows," Dahlia glared at him.

"There's more to it, Dahlia," said the Vector quietly. "Just give Cortes a few more minutes. But he does need to know."

They all stood in silence for those few more minutes. Until the Vector eventually pushed off from the wall and headed to the room they'd placed Cheng in. "Cortes…" He placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder.

"What is it?" Cortes finally answered, though he didn't move from Cheng's side and continued to hold his hand.

"There's something I need to show you…"

"Not now." Cortes cut him short.

"It might shed some light on what exactly attacked Cheng."

Cortes' gaze hardened and he looked up at the Vector. "I'd like to know just enough about that thing to kill it." He paused, as the Vector didn't reply immediately. "I don't want to leave Cheng…"

"Sir…" Dahlia was standing just at the door with Mahad and Lena. "I can stay with him until you get back."

Cortes seemed to think for a brief moment. "Alright." He stood up, his gaze continuing to rest on Cheng for as long as possible. "This better be good, Vector."

----

"A good sixty percent of the files that we retrieved from the Sphere base contain, or at least reference information concerning werewolves." The Vector paused, as if this piece of information held a great deal of relevance.

Cortes didn't seem to think so. "So someone was interested in fantasy," he snapped. "Just like this damn bloc…"

"Cortes, just listen to me. You saw something yourself, you must admit that there could be some useful information in all of this."

"Alright," Cortes sighed. The look he gave the Vector said that if this were so, then he'd have to prove it to him. "Go on."

They now sat in Cortes' cabin, the Vector behind the laptop, Cortes across the table glaring at him. Mahad and Lena had come back as well, wanting to hear the Vector's full explanation also.

"This information is not just fantasy," the Vector continued. "Some of it is mythological stories, yes. But that is only a very small fraction. Most of it is scientific, factual information and research…"

"Like what?" asked Cortes before the Vector could continue down a path he imagined he would find difficult to understand.

"Well, there's a partial DNA map in there. Those are not something you can just make up for a creature that does not exist."

"Okay, so there's something that actually exists that the Sphere knew about, and somehow it has ended up being called a 'werewolf.' How do we kill it?"

"Silver bullets," put in Mahad.

Cortes just looked at him.

He pointed at the laptop. "It's what it said…"

"Mahad!" said Lena, her voice hushed. "That was just one of the stories! Shush!"

"Cortes, I know you're upset about what happened to Cheng. But I think we need to know more about this creature before we go after it, if that is the best course of action to take. We know it's dangerous."

"That much has been firmly established," Cortes growled.

"And there may be more to this than just some wild beast that has been confused with a fictional creature. There is information in here, and not just in the stories, which points to humans becoming werewolves; about 'werewolves' not being so much a separate species, but humans that have been affected by a virus."

"You're going to have to explain further…"

"If what I've read in the Sphere's files is true, werewolves are humans that have been affected by a virus that alters their DNA."

"That creature was not human, Vector!" Cortes pointed out, quite vehemently. "Humans don't…" here he trailed off. _Humans don't tear up children with teeth and claws. They prefer guns._ He swallowed. "… don't look like that."

"He's right. It didn't _look_ human, Vector," Mahad put in. "It was covered in fur and… teeth…"

"Yes, but remember I said that their DNA is altered, Mahad. That could mean that they _grow_ fur and teeth…"

Cortes laughed suddenly, making them all jump. "I can't believe I'm listening to this…"

"I'm just saying that if the information the Sphere had has been right so far, that the rest may be correct as well…"

"It's completely ridiculous! You sound exactly like those men from the bar, only your speech is less slurred!"

"Cortes, why would the Sphere have all this information if it weren't true?"

"Oh, I'm sure they've still got information flying around about the prophecy…"

"We're getting off track! We _know_ there is something out there…"

"Of course we do. We know because it _mauled_ Cheng!" Cortes paused for a moment, drew in a breath. "I know there is something out there. Maybe there is something in those files that is true. And we know for certain there is truth in the local's stories. But that doesn't mean we have to believe everything. I believe what I _saw_!"

The Vector shook his head. "There's more to it, Cortes. Too much of this fits in. Trust me; there is more to this creature than you have already seen…"

"No!" Cortes shouted, slamming a fist into the table. His voice was now strained almost to breaking point as he continued. ""No Vector, _you_ just want there to be something more to it! Cheng's been hurt and all you want to do is play around with your theories like its all some bloody joke!"

"Cortes…" the Vector tried, his voice in sharp contrast as he tried to calm the Captain down.

"There are no such things as werewolves!" Cortes snarled, his hands balled tightly into fists. His chair screeched across the floor as he flung it backwards, stood up and stormed out of the cabin. The door slammed shut behind him.

The Vector sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Wow…" said Lena, staring at the closed door, "he's really mad…"

"… or upset…" muttered Mahad, also staring at the door but with a somewhat confused expression on his face.

"He's probably right," the Vector sighed, opening his eyes and leaning back in his chair. "He's got enough to worry about – I shouldn't have thrown that at him now."

Mahad frowned. "Maybe you should've…"

"You said he was upset," pointed out Lena, "Vector's right… even though his intentions were good…" she added, smiling at him.

The Vector smiled back. "Thanks, Lena."

"No…" said Mahad, getting agitated by the fact no one was really listening to him. "What if the Vector's right? I mean what he was telling Cortes!" he clarified, when Lena gave him a quizzical look. "If that really was a werewolf, it… _bit_ Cheng." He was uncomfortable using a more descriptive word, having seen the whole thing. "And one of those stories we were reading before said that if you get bitten by a werewolf you turn into one."

"But that was just a story…" started Lena.

"Maybe not…"said the Vector, sitting up and quickly looking at his notes. "Virus' can be transferred by contact with saliva and blood…"

"But Cheng hasn't turned into a werewolf," said Lena. "He's just hurt."

"Not yet," said Mahad. Then he looked out the Saint Nazaire's window, to the repair station. The moon had just risen to an angle where its light was beginning to shine through the open dock of the repair station, and was now creeping up the sides of the Saint Nazaire. "But isn't moonlight supposed to have something to do with setting it off?"

----

Cortes got partway down the central corridor of the Saint Nazaire before he stopped, turned to smash a fist into the wall, then instead just placed his palm flat and leaned heavily against it.

He knew he'd overreacted. But he just didn't have the patience to listen to the Vector's theories at a time like this. Cheng was hurt, and Cortes felt as if he should've been able to do something more to protect him. Realistically, he knew he'd done everything he could, and he could hardly have predicted something so dangerous would be on the bloc. Perhaps he should have been cautious anyway.

What angered him the most was the attitude of everyone on the bloc. If they wanted to believe monsters were going to get them if they went outside, and turn them into monsters, well, they could believe whatever the hell they wanted. But refusing to let a hurt child into a hospital?! That was going too far. For all Cortes now cared, the entire bloc deserved to keep on living in their ignorance. All he wanted to do was get the Saint Nazaire fixed and get away from Marquis as soon as possible.

He sighed heavily, and then stepped away from the wall. He'd go and sit with Cheng for the rest of the night if he had to.

There was a crash from down the corridor, making Cortes start. He recovered and jogged in the direction it had come from, and nearly ran into Dahlia.

"Sir, it's just me!"

"Dahlia!" Cortes paused for the briefest second, overcoming his shock. "Why aren't you with Cheng?"

Dahlia seemed confused, and just a little bit scared. "Something's happened. He's..."

At that moment, something howled. It was coming from inside the ship.

Cortes shoved Dahlia aside and dashed down the corridor to the medical supply room.

"Captain…!" Dahlia recovered quickly, and ran after him.

The door to the room was shut. Cortes flung it open. Inside, Cheng was nowhere to be seen, instead, there was another of the creatures. It was smaller than the first but otherwise looked practically the same. In its mouth it had a ragged piece of green material. It looked up and saw Cortes, backed into a corner and growled.

"No!" Cortes stepped towards it, anger flaring. What had it done with Cheng!? He reached for the gun at his side.

"Sir!" Dahlia almost crashed into the doorframe as she rushed through the door behind him. She grabbed his arm around the elbow and pulled him back.

"Let me go!" Cortes growled, trying to tug his arm away and struggling to understand why she wouldn't let him at the creature. "That thing…" He stared at it, hating it. "I'm going to kill it!" He jerked his weapon away from Dahlia, but she managed to hold on and throw off his aim. The gun went off, sending a blast into the wall.

The creature yelped.

"That thing_ is_ Cheng!" Dahlia shouted, desperate to get through to him before he did something he'd regret.

Cortes froze. He slowly looked at Dahlia before pulling his arm away from her carefully.

She let him go.

Cortes looked at the 'creature' again. Suddenly it didn't look like some horrible vicious beast that he simply wanted to kill. It had backed away into a corner. It was scared.

Cheng was scared.

Cortes swallowed, and took a cautions step forward. "Cheng…"

Cheng growled out a warning, and shuffled back further, brushing through a pile of shredded and bloodied bandages. Though it was difficult to tell under all the fur, he himself appeared to no longer be bleeding.

"Sir, be careful…" said Dahlia. She was worried as Cortes had moved further into the room, away from her and the door.

Cortes ignored her. He moved carefully forward again, and then knelt down on the floor.

Cheng continued to growl, but had now backed all the way into the corner and had nowhere else to go.

"Cheng, it's okay. It's just me…"

Cheng barked, snapped his teeth and darted forward.

"Look out!" Dahlia grabbed Cortes by the back of the shirt with one hand, the other grabbing the handle of the door beside her.

She managed to pull Cortes far enough back, and the door far enough shut, that Cheng smashed into the other side of the door and forced it shut all the way. He hit with such strength that both Cortes and Dahlia were flung back against the opposite wall.

Inside the room, Cheng could be heard throwing himself hard against the door again and again.

"I was just sitting with him… and… he turned into… _that_…" Dahlia tried to explain, short of breath. "I only just got out the first time…" she trailed off; Cortes just sat with his back against the wall, staring straight ahead at the shut door. "Sir..?" She put a hand gently on his shoulder.

The opposite wall shuddered as Cheng threw himself against the door again.

"I nearly shot him."

"It's not your fault…"

"What's going on?" The Vector had arrived. He stood in the corridor with Mahad and Lena; they'd heard the commotion on their way to check that the moonlight wasn't having an affect on Cheng.

"Cheng…" started Dahlia, but stopped and jumped as the far wall again shuddered. Snarls could be heard through the bulkhead.

Everyone turned and stared at the door. Imagining, but not quite wanting to believe what the sounds suggested was behind the door. For a moment there was absolute silence, save for the animalistic noises coming from beyond the wall.

"He's turned into a werewolf, hasn't he?" said the Vector, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Cortes just looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/n: **Let me know if this chapter's a little bit too long. I decided it all was going in there anyway.

* * *

He was woken by sunlight, streaming in through the small circular window and hitting just that angle to get him bang in the eyes. Wayan squinted, groaned, and then rolled over in his bed.

Sunlight meant it was time to get up.

Wayan sat up and stretched, his blankets slipping down around his waist. He shivered as the morning air hit his bare skin. And then realised he wasn't wearing anything.

"Huh…?" he said, still partly asleep. He lifted up his sheets. Yeah, he was definitely completely naked. He couldn't see his clothes down there either.

Wayan pulled the sheet back up around himself, and frowned. He normally slept in everything bar his boots. It simply made it easier to get up. A quick look around his room on the Saint Nazaire revealed that he hadn't left his clothes on the floor either. That was odd.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. What had he done last night? He remembered going to the tavern with Cortes, and coming back early. He'd felt sick. But now he felt fine. He was a little bit sweaty, but he didn't feel sick at all. Maybe he'd just been hot, come back and crashed in bed. What he'd done with the clothes though…

Wayan looked around the floor again, and then decided he'd have to get up. Maybe he'd put them in the metal locker in the corner. He got up, nearly tripped over the sheet, and threw it back onto the bed. Stupid thing.

Halfway to the locker, he realised the door to his room was open. Lena was also walking down the hallway. With the realisation a twelve year old child was about to get a nasty shock, coupled with the embarrassment he himself would suffer, Wayan froze.

Lena was half asleep, heading to the bathroom. She paused as he hand touched the bathroom door handle. Was that just… As she turned around a doorway slammed behind her. She blinked. She could've sworn… She just shook off the thought, her drowsy mind not really wishing to comprehend what it had almost seen. She headed into the bathroom.

Wayan pressed against the hastily slammed door, and let out a pent up breath. Okay, that was another reason he didn't sleep naked, his door had a loose latch. Shaking off the apprehension, he pulled open the locker. The clothes he had worn yesterday weren't in there, but there was another set. Good thing he'd thought to keep some in here. He dressed, and then headed out into the corridor.

He started heading to the bridge, but then stopped as he came around a corner. Cortes was sitting in the hallway, opposite the medical supply room, and appeared to be fast asleep. He had his back against the wall, knees drawn up against his chest, and rested his head and arms against them. The position looked extremely uncomfortable, especially if he had been there for awhile.

Again, Wayan felt that something odd was going on. He walked up to the Captain, but before he could say anything the man jerked awake, probably hearing Wayan's footsteps on the metal deck.

"Wayan…" For the briefest moment Cortes seemed disorientated, and then his gaze hardened. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I was…" He wasn't entirely sure where'd he'd been since leaving the tavern, and wasn't sure exactly when Cortes meant. "…sleeping…"

Cortes stood up a little stiffly. "Sorry… I just…" He stopped, and sighed. Then he looked hard at Wayan. "Wayan, those werewolf stories those men in the bar told us. They're true."

Wayan blinked. "What?"

Cortes drew in a breath, and explained to Wayan as concisely as he could the events of the previous night.

Wayan heard him out, but couldn't help his eyes drifting across to the closed door as his Captain told what had happened to Cheng. "Is he alright?" he asked.

Cortes swallowed, and followed Wayan's gaze. "I'd check, but I don't know whether he'd try and attack me again. He was crashing around in there most of the night…"

Wayan stared at the door. There wasn't any noise coming from inside the room now. Then a thought struck him. "It's morning… if the moonlight was what caused him to change, maybe he's turned back now?"

That thought evidently had not occurred to Cortes, for whatever reason. He didn't answer Wayan, but quickly turned to the door, placing his hand on the door handle. He paused, listening, and then carefully turned the handle and cracked the door open, giving himself the smallest opening to look through. Then he stepped hastily into the room.

Wayan stepped in behind him.

"Cheng…"

Cheng sat on the single bed in the room. He was hugging his knees against his chest, shivering and trying to hold a tattered piece of blanket around himself. He didn't seem to have heard Cortes, and just stared blankly at a point across the room. He was completely naked, but his body seemed to show no signs of the trauma it had received the night before. His skin was completely untorn, there weren't even any scars. It was almost as if nothing had happened to him. The room however was a mess. Torn and tattered shreds of material were everywhere, as well as what looked like dark coloured fur scattered about.

"Cheng, lad…" Cortes said again, coming and sitting down next to him. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Cheng suddenly seemed to come back to reality, shivering violently as Cortes touched him. He looked up with his eyes wide then grabbed onto the man's jacket and buried his face. "I don't know what happened…"

"It's okay…" Cortes sighed, gripping Cheng close to him. "Wayan, can you see if there are anymore blankets in the locker?"

Wayan nodded, and turned to the locker in the corner of the room. He paused, startled. The front of the metal door was scoured and bent in with what looked like claw marks. He took the handle, and gave it a tug, eventually managing to open the locker with a bit of effort. A brief search found a fuzzy orange blanket, which he took out and gave to Cortes.

Cortes took it and threw it around Cheng's shoulders.

Cheng still clung to the Captain's jacket, but Cortes gently pried him off. He needed to talk to him. "Do you remember anything that happened last night?" he asked, pulling the blanket completely around Cheng as he did.

Cheng swallowed. "I remember going out on the bloc with Mahad. I remember… seeing… this thing that…" he trailed off, drawing in a shaky breath.

"Okay," said Cortes, gritting his teeth. He hated pushing him like this. "What about after that. After we got back to the ship?"

Cheng struggled to think for a short while. Then he shook his head. "I don't know… I can't really _remember_… but…"

"But what?"

"I, I think I had this dream. You were in it… and I was scared of you… I wanted to kill you!" The boy buried his face against Cortes again.

Wayan stepped outside into the hallway, giving the two a bit of privacy. He also needed to think. Cheng's 'dream' sounded familiar. For the briefest of moments, Wayan thought he remembered his own dream. Then the thought was gone, and he wasn't sure if he had just imagined it.

---

"Whatever has happened with Cheng, this bloc knows more than we do. I intend to find out exactly how much," growled Cortes. They were on the bridge, Cortes trying to get the crew organised. He needed answers and he wasn't happy about fluffing about, though everyone was trying to get moving as quickly as possible.

"I agree," said the Vector, not wanting to upset Cortes more when he in fact held no disagreement to finding out more information. "I'm just wondering why you need to take that…" He pointed to the weapon holster Cortes had just strapped around his waist.

"That's for the werewolf."

"You still don't know if that's the best course of action…"

"That's why we're going to find out as much as we can."

"Do you want more information so you know _if_ you should kill it? Or so you know _how_ to kill it?" the Vector asked bluntly.

Cortes just looked at the older man, and then roughly pushed past him, ignoring the question. "Alright, Mahad, Dahlia, Wayan, are you just about ready?" he shouted down to the back of the bridge.

"Ready," confirmed Wayan. He'd strapped a rifle to his back, but it was making him feel a bit awkward. They needed to be ready for the werewolf, which he had yet to see. It was a bit much for asking questions though.

"Yeah," said Mahad, "but I'm not sure where Dahlia's…"

As he said her name the young woman stepped through the open bridge door. "Captain, I've talked to the engineers working on the ship. They said that if we really want to know what's going on with the werewolf situation we need to talk to Marquis' mayor."

Cortes nodded. "Alright, let's hope he can give us some reliable information. Something better than scared stories." He gave the Vector one last look, and then headed out the bridge door. Dahlia, Mahad and Wayan followed.

The Vector sighed. He hoped Cortes would be able to think clearly enough to make the right decisions. He didn't want the man to get himself hurt, especially after seeing what the werewolf had done to Cheng. However, he had his own information gathering to do. There was still much information from the Sphere base he had yet to sift through. He might be able to find some way to help Cheng. At least something better than just killing the werewolf.

The Vector was unsure if that would accomplish anything.

----

"Sir, there're some people from the visiting ship here that say they need to see…"

Julian could already see that.

His secretary seemed to realise at the same moment that the group of pirates had already entered through the large mahogany doors into the mayor's somewhat plush office. She huffed, and pushed back through them to get out to her desk.

He'd probably have to up her pay sometime soon…

That thought didn't stay in his mind for long, because he quickly recognised most of the people that had just barged into his office.

He wasn't the only one.

"You," the man with the ponytail snarled. He'd paced across the room in an instant, slammed his palms flat on the top of Julian's desk, and leaned forward. "I thought I'd be speaking to somebody reasonable, not someone who won't even let a child into a hospital!"

"Sir…" The young woman in the group stepped forward, placing a hand on her Captain's shoulder.

The man seemed to realise he was overreacting, and straightened back up.

Julian tried to not look too surprised. He could understand why the pirate Captain was upset; he'd seen the look on his face the night before. "I guess we got off on the wrong foot," he said. "I'm Julian, the mayor of this bloc. Though I think you know that already."

The man drew in a breath, steadying himself. "My name is Cortes. This is Mahad, Wayan, Dahlia," he rushed through the introduction, then turned back to look straight at the mayor. "I need some answers."

"I assume about what exactly happened to your son?"

Cortes gritted his teeth, anger flaring again. "Among others. And he's not my son.

"We know there's something odd about this bloc; there are creatures here. Most of us have seen them. And that carries a lot more weight than local stories."

"They're not just stories."

"I've figured that," Cortes snapped. "But from what I've seen the people on your bloc are scared. There's something out there, but I doubt many of them could give an accurate description of it. They're full of superstition; that's why I came to you. But after recognising you from the hospital I'm not so sure if it was worth the effort."

"Then I guess I'll have to prove otherwise," Julian stood, bringing himself up to the pirate Captain's height. "I guess I don't have to prove that there _are_ werewolves here. You've seen that much. I'm not sure where they came from, but it would've been about three years ago when people started being taken. Livestock went missing as well. Luckily we figured out that it was the werewolves, and I organised for everyone to remain inside at nightfall, and when the moon was out. It was a bit tense, but the werewolf population went down. We were never sure why. Maybe they moved off further into the wilds.

Incidents still happen though. That's why there's a curfew after nightfall. The few travellers that come through probably think its silly, and I can see why because there're not so many werewolves now. But you must understand that I must keep my people safe. They must stay inside so no one else gets infected."

"And what happens if someone _does_ get infected? You just turn them away?"

"That's why there's a curfew," said Julian. He'd now walked around to the other side of his desk, and looked the Captain square in the eye.

Cortes drew in a breath, his shoulders shuddering. "There's a child who's been 'infected' by this. I'm trying to find a way to help him, and at least make sure no one else gets hurt."

"There's nothing that can be done for him," said Julian, bluntly. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I'm at least going to try."

Julian frowned. "And how do you plan to go about that?"

"You say the werewolves are out in the wilds, they only come out at night? Well, then we'll go there, at night, and we'll find them."

The mayor actually started, up until now he'd kept careful control of the outward display of his feelings. "You're not serious…"

"How else can you fix the problem, Julian? We'll be doing you a favour. No werewolves will mean you don't have to keep everyone inside all the time. They won't have to be scared. We might even find a way to help anyone who's been recently infected."

"Like your kid?"

"Yeah."

Julian shook his head. "You'll just get yourselves killed. Don't you think if we knew we could kill them we would have taken care of them already?"

"Ever tried?"

"No…"

Cortes shook his head. "Forget it. You have to do nothing. You're people have to do nothing. We will get rid of the werewolves for you."

"My people are already safe – provided they stay inside. And you going out and stirring up a werewolf might only make things worse."

Cortes growled. He was getting really frustrated. "I've just about had enough of this. Do you have anymore information you can give us that might help? You don't have to think it'll work, I just need information."

Julian shook his head. "I can't tell you much more. Except that this is a very bad idea. You'll get yourself and your crew killed." He _could_ tell him more, but he didn't have to reveal that. Julian knew when to use tact.

Cortes huffed. "Fine." He turned to leave. "I'll let you know when we succeed."

Julian scowled; this was something he did not need. Then a thought hit him. "Cortes…" he said suddenly, "How's your kid?"

Cortes paused as he made his way to the door, unsure whether the question was to be taken at face value; whether the mayor really did care. "He's fine now. Except that he'll turn into a werewolf again when the moon comes out."

Julian opened his mouth again.

"Don't worry," said Cortes, anticipating the question. "He's locked up on the ship. He won't infect anyone on the bloc." He paused again. "I understand you want to look after Marquis. Trust me, whatever you think about what we're going to be doing, we won't put your people in danger." He turned to his crew. "Come on, we can't do anything until tonight."

Cortes turned to head out the mayor's door, and then stopped suddenly. The other pirates turned, and in their path stood a mechanical beast of some sort. It stood about seven feet tall on two hind legs, with a long segmented neck, and a small head perched on top of that. On its back was what initially looked like long, thin, useless wings. Its tail stretched behind it, also segmented, and with what looked like a mace attached to the end. On its head was a small tartan hat, with a little white pom pom.

Cortes stepped back, startled, somewhat unsure of what the machine wanted. It was big, and had claws, but that hat…

"It's okay," Julian sighed, "That's just Nessie. She's just here to take out the trash."

"Nessie?" Cortes groaned, glancing again at the hat. He already didn't like the machine, but that probably had more to do with the fact that as a child his brother Christophe used to tell him that 'Nessie' would come out from under the bed and eat him.

The pirates stepped out of the way, and the machine plodded across the room to the bin by Julian's desk. She approached the bin, and the contraption on her back that had looked like wings, moved down to grab the bin. Why they needed to be so sharp for that task, no one could guess.

"If you do want to help," said Cortes again, now ignoring the machine, "you know where our ship is."

With that, they headed out the mayor's door, and Julian waited. The doors swung shut, and clicked back into place. Julian waited a few seconds more, and then walked back around behind his desk, sat down, and then suddenly slammed both his fists on the wooden surface. "Confounded pirates!"

Beside him, the garbage bot looked up, alerted by the noise. "Forget it. Just get rid of that…"

Nessie put the bin in front of her nose with the sharp clamps, and opened her mouth, a small flame building on the tip of her jaws.

"Don't incinerate it here!" Julian told the machine. It always seemed to take orders too literally.

Nessie whirred, her eyes flashing green in acknowledgement of the order. She stomped out of the office, the trash can still clamped in front of her.

Julian drew in a breath to completely calm himself. He was now seriously regretting allowing the repair station's engineers to let in outside ships for repair. How else had he been supposed to keep them happy though? It wasn't like Marquis had too many ships, and they had to make a living. Julian had been thinking of trading ships in need of repairs when he'd allowed it, not pirates. The engineers had just stretched out the agreement. Of course, he had done nothing about it. He should've before now. And now he had a problem.

Julian did not like pirates. He remembered when they had been led by Marcus Farrel, and all the hype that had followed them. Perhaps they had been alright then. But they still seemed to pretend as if they were doing some good for Skyland. As far as Julian was concerned, they looked after no one but themselves, and just caused trouble for everyone else. They took the Sphere's water, the Sphere got angry. It was taken out on blocs last capable of fighting back. Didn't the pirates realise that the water they took from the Sphere had to be replenished somehow? They were really just stealing from other blocs.

Marquis was lucky. At least they had him as their mayor. He was able to keep the Sphere off of their backs, and had even secured some tax cuts. The people wouldn't really know, and it was simply safer if they didn't. But as long as they were safe, that was all that mattered to Julian.

But the pirates could ruin all that. Despite Cortes' words that he was going to help Marquis, Julian's view of pirates hadn't changed. He knew he only was doing it for his child; otherwise he was sure he'd be off just as soon as his ship was repaired. He hadn't been able to tell them just how much they could mess things up, but he doubted the explanation would have gone down well with the Captain.

There were other things he could do about that problem however.

He sighed, leaned forward and pressed the button on the intercom that linked him through to his secretary. "Martha? I don't want to be disturbed for the next half hour, okay?"

"Sure thing."

Julian pulled open his desk drawer, and took out the secure phone line he kept stashed in there. He played with the knobs on the little box for a moment, and then held the receiver up to his ear, and waited. "Yeah, Natasha? Yes, of course it's Julian. We have a problem."

"I'm busy, Julian," came the reply. "This had better be good."

Julian got straight to the point. "Seems your little pets have been causing a few problems."

"Really? You know there'll be some of that, Julian. That was part of the deal. Except my pets haven't been let out for awhile, so I'm really not sure what you're talking about."

"Nevertheless, someone has been infected…"

"They should've stayed inside, isn't that the rules?"

"It's not as easy as that, Natasha. Please, just hear me out. The child that was infected was from a visiting ship. A pirate ship. They're not exactly happy about it."

"You let a pirate ship onto your bloc? Julian, that's not something you should be telling me, what if the Sphere found out?"

"You and I both know you don't care, you won't tell them. Listen, tonight they're going out to hunt the werewolf that did this to their kid. What if they actually kill it? People will think they don't need to stay inside anymore!"

"That's your problem, not mine."

"What if they find out what you're doing out there? These people have a war ship, they may not be as powerful as the Sphere, but the Sphere doesn't really care so much about what you're doing out there, do they? Not enough results, I heard…"

"Be very careful, Julian."

"They could be a problem for you as well."

There was a pause on the line, as the woman thought. "Alright. I'll do what I can to take care of it. You do what you can from your end; I know you'll think of something. Their hunt will not be successful."

Julian smiled. "Good. Thank you, Natasha."

The line went dead.

----

"I'm hungry…" muttered Mahad, looking down at his stomach. "I don't think I ate enough breakfast…"

"You had a whole bowl of cereal," said Dahlia, rolling her eyes.

The four of them were heading back towards the Saint Nazaire, after their talk with the mayor. There really wasn't much for them to do until nightfall.

"Although," Dahlia continued, "I think it is almost lunch time…"

Cortes sighed. "Go to the tavern if you both want, we can't do much of anything until it gets dark."

"Where's the tavern?" Mahad asked.

Cortes scowled, and looked at Dahlia.

Dahlia tried to avoid his gaze. She didn't know either.

"Alright, just go down…"

Wayan smiled slightly. Even though Mahad was annoying Cortes, maybe the normal level of annoyance would do him good. It had to be better than thinking about Cheng.

Something caught Wayan's eyes on the ground. A shred of material in a familiar colour. He knelt to pick it up. He felt it, turned it over, and then held it against the side of his pants. The exact same colour.

He _was_ missing a set of clothes…

_Darkness. But he could still see. Like the shadows were only shades of pale grey and the lights he could see almost blindingly painful. The image shifted suddenly, and then it seemed that he was looking down from a rooftop. A small person stood in the street below, and the focus was suddenly on that shape, almost more intense. The image shifted again, getting closer to the person._

"Wayan!"

Wayan blinked, and snapped back to reality. What had that been? A remembered dream? He looked at the piece of material. It had been what had triggered the images in his mind.

"Are you coming back to the ship?" Cortes asked.

"Ah, yeah, yeah I'm coming."

Cortes huffed, and kept walking. His temper was very short, even more so then when he was in a normal bad mood.

Wayan followed quietly, not really dwelling on his Captain's mood. The images and material had got him thinking. What _had_ happened last night?

----

"So, I hear you lot are going to take down some werewolves?"

Dahlia promptly choked on her orange juice.

"How'd you know that?" Mahad asked the bartender. Luckily, he had not been drinking or eating anything at the time the question was asked.

The two had managed to locate the tavern for lunch. It was a lot fuller than it had been the previous night. Like those in the tavern on Puerto Angel, most of the residents of Marquis thought it a far better idea to eat something they didn't have to prepare for themselves. Unlike Puerto Angel however, this didn't apply so much to a late dinner, as getting eaten _themselves_ factored somewhat more into Marquis peoples' thinking.

Henry the bartender shrugged. "Alex's sister is the mayor's secretary…"

"And Alex?" Dahlia asked, having managed to get her orange juice going down the right tube.

"Drinks too much."

"It's a stupid idea," said a man sitting next to Dahlia at the bar. "You'll just get yourselves killed…" he looked at Dahlia. "… be a waste."

"It's about time somebody did something about them," said another man, sitting beside Mahad. "I say good on you. What are you planning on doing? I can give you some extra guns if you need them."

"Are you two old enough to be fighting werewolves? And carrying guns?" a lady at the table behind them asked.

The excitement was too much for Mahad. He leapt up on his barstool.

"Mahad…" Dahlia warned.

"Everyone, listen up!" said Mahad, drowning her out. "You all have lived in fear for far too long! We've got weapons and a really big ship, and we're going to take care of your werewolf problem!"

"How!?" someone shouted.

"We're going to go and find them, and get rid of them. You won't have to worry about them attacking you, or of people you care about getting infected! And you won't have to stay inside all the time anymore!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"What if you make them angry?!"

"Hey, I've seen one of these things. They're dangerous, yeah. But, hey, you stay inside, you're safe right? It's the same thing you do now, you've got nothing to loose. And we'll be the ones taking care of them. With me, Mahad, leading the attack!" He grabbed his boomerang and pointed it up at the rafters.

A few of the patrons nervously glanced upwards, as if they expected a werewolf to be hiding there.

"Get down, kid, before you hurt yourself."

Mahad glanced across the room to where a man had gotten up from his chair.

The two froze, suddenly recognizing each other. The man had only heard the commotion from across the room; he hadn't seen the boy who'd made it until he turned around.

It was the older man from the hospital.

"And how do you think we should go about getting rid of them, then?" Mahad asked, his voice now lowered. He stepped down off of the stool.

"Alright, nothing to see, everybody," the man said as he crossed the tavern to Mahad.

The people of Marquis must have respected him somewhat, because they all went back to eating their lunches and talking. Many of them seemed to be still keeping an eye on Dahlia and Mahad however.

"Want a drink, Andrew?" Henry smirked from behind the counter.

"No, thank you," sighed Andrew. He ignored Henry, and turned to Mahad. "You two really should be careful about going out there," he said.

"Why?" Mahad snapped. "Because if something happens you won't let us into your hospital?"

Andrew drew in a breath and looked down.

Dahlia was pretty sure he looked ashamed, but the man recovered quickly, and looked up at Mahad.

"Look… I'm sorry about that. Believe me; I don't usually turn people away from my hospital. But Julian was there. And he's got rules. I can't just go ignoring them because I don't exactly agree with them. It'll only turn things sour. Is the kid alright?"

"He's fine," said Dahlia curtly.

Andrew looked uncomfortable. It wasn't difficult to tell he wasn't being received well. "Okay… that's good I guess. But I'm just warning you. Our curfew may be a stupid and frustrating idea, I've been thinking the same myself for awhile, but I'm not sure going in guns blazing is the way to go about this. You will only get yourselves hurt."

"Don't worry about, Mahad," spoke up Dahlia. "He exaggerates a lot. He may make it sound we're going in gun's blazing, but I can assure you we know what we're doing. Our Captain's a good man; he wouldn't do anything he thought would hurt his crew, or anybody."

"I hope you're right. But be very careful. There is something out there. I just wish we could find out what it was, rather than assuming, and hiding. You've got the right idea there at least."

"Well we'll find that out for sure."

"We can bring you its carcass," said Mahad, arms folded. He still wasn't happy with the doctor at all.

Dahlia wasn't either, but he seemed to be trying to help. But despite knowing they needed more information, he still had the same problem as the rest of the bloc. He was scared. Why else would he not let Cheng inside the hospital? Perhaps it was more to do, as he said, with the mayor. Maybe he was scared of him?

"That would certainly be helpful. I wish you the best of luck." He nodded to them, and then headed back across the tavern.

"Bastard…" Mahad muttered.

Dahlia sighed. "What? Because he interrupted your little attempt to get attention?"

Mahad glared at her, and Dahlia thought that perhaps that had been a little too harsh. Maybe she was more on edge than she thought.

"No, because of Cheng."

Dahlia sighed. "Never mind. We'll work this all out this evening. In the mean time, can you try not making a spectacle of yourself in front of the entire bloc?"


	6. Chapter 6

It was now getting late in the day. Cheng and Lena were both in the medical supply room.

Earlier in the day, Cheng had gotten dressed in the clothes Cortes had brought him. The set he'd been wearing before had been all but torn to shreds. The only thing that had survived had been his boots. The medical supply room was now tidy. There were no signs of the mess Cheng had left.

"It should be okay to go out for a little bit, Cheng. You can't turn into a werewolf during the day. I mean, you haven't yet."

Cheng just looked at Lena, and then back down at the laptop screen he had in front of him. "I'm still not sure. And it's going to start getting dark soon." He wasn't going to leave the room. He'd stayed inside the whole day already; he certainly wasn't coming out now.

"I just can't remember anything that happened. I don't know if I'm suddenly going to turn into something horrible! I don't want to hurt anybody."

"Cheng, I know you wouldn't intentionally hurt anybody…"

"It's not intentionally I'm worried about…" Cheng mumbled, looking down at the computer screen again.

Lena frowned. Cheng was trying hard not to look at her, instead concentrating on the computer in front of him. Lena was pretty sure there was nothing on there he really wanted to be looking at. She knew he was scared, even though it was fairly obvious he couldn't hurt anybody during the day. Still, he didn't seem to want to take any chances.

She had come down to keep him company, and to make sure he was alright. Cortes had asked her to whilst everyone else went to find out more information. She'd stayed with Cheng the whole day, just trying to keep his mind off things. She'd made a few attempts to get him outside the room but as of yet they'd been unsuccessful. "You don't have to worry, there's no moon. The Vector's already figured out…"

"What if he's wrong!?" Cheng snapped, actually shouting at her.

Lena jumped. He hadn't shouted at her before. He'd just been changing the subject a lot.

Cheng blinked, a little surprised at his own outburst. "What if making me angry makes we turn into one? And I wouldn't normally yell at you, would I?"

Lena wasn't sure.

"Maybe you should just leave."

"I can't leave you all alone. Cortes asked me to look out for you."

"Well, you don't have to. I can just play with the computer. Besides, you don't need to look out for me. Nothing can hurt me… my body just sort of fixes itself…"

"I don't think that was what Cortes meant."

"Can you just leave me alone!?" Cheng snapped, again raising his voice.

Lena blinked.

Cheng dropped his eyes, not looking at Lena. "Just go before something bad happens. And you probably should lock the door."

Lena just nodded, and quietly slipped out the door. She didn't know what to say, and staying seemed as if it would just upset Cheng more.

Cheng waited until the door clicked shut, his hands shaking. He slumped back against the wall, letting the laptop slip to the ground. His lip shook, and tears filled his eyes.

Lena stomped down the Saint Nazaire's corridor, looking at her boots. She wanted to help Cheng, but how could she if he wouldn't even let her stay in the same room? She wandered onto the bridge, where the Vector was staring at the computer screen, still going through information.

The rest of the crew were there as well, each one of them peering over the Vector's shoulder to see. They'd obviously arrived sometime recently, and the Vector had caught them up to explain something of importance.

"Hi…" said Lena.

"Hello, Lena," said the Vector. "Where's Cheng?"

Lena sighed. "He won't leave the room. He's scared he'll turn into a werewolf again. I've been trying to tell him it couldn't happen during the day, but…" She shrugged.

"Hm. It's probably best if he stays where he's comfortable. Don't worry, there's so much information here, there's bound to be something that can help. In fact, I think I've found something that might be important."

"Then please share it," Cortes growled.

The Vector flicked to another screen. "It appears the Sphere's work with werewolves at the facility also involved Seijins."

"What do you mean?" Mahad asked. "I thought you said they were doing experiments with werewolf DNA?"

"Yes, Mahad. But I think they have _also_ been using Seijin DNA. I'm not quite sure… but…" the Vector paused, examining the screen again. "They may have been trying to combine the werewolf virus with Seijin DNA."

"Why would they want to do that? They wouldn't want to make Seijin's sick, would they?" frowned Dahlia.

"I don't think so. I theorise they were trying to make the virus more powerful… it would certainly make those infected far stronger."

"It's still a disease though…" said Cortes.

The Vector looked at the Captain, and suddenly seemed less excited. He sighed and shook his head. "I know…" He'd been getting all absorbed by the subject again. He was supposed to be trying to find a way to help Cheng. The information may help, but he still felt bad enjoying exploring it.

"So what does this mean?" Cortes prodded.

"It may mean werewolves infected by this virus have similar powers to Seijins. Only I believe these powers would be activated by moonlight. Not sunlight. That's the only reason I can see for the Sphere wanting to experiment in this way…"

"They wanted to make soldiers," Cortes finished for him.

Everybody looked at him.

"I believe so, yes," said the Vector. "Guardians can only use their Seijin powers during the daytime. These werewolves would be able to use their powers at night time. They would be very effective for the Sphere. More intelligent than Brigadiers, and far stronger."

"That werewolf that attacked Cheng," said Dahlia, "it put up something like an energy shield. The Vector's probably right."

"So how come we're not getting attacked by Seijin powered werewolves left right and centre?" Mahad asked. "If I was the Sphere, and I had such a powerful weapon, I'd use it."

"The base we found was deserted, Mahad. I suspect the Sphere have abandoned the project. The werewolves are obviously uncontrollable. Soldiers are no good if they won't obey orders…"

Mahad shrugged. "Or try to eat you…"

"One question though…" mused Wayan, who up until now had been fairly quiet. "How did the werewolf get to this bloc in the first place? This information is all for that bloc with the deserted Sphere base… not Marquis."

The Vector had evidently not completely thought that through. "The blocs are fairly close…" he said, but then trailed off.

"It doesn't matter," Cortes snapped. "We already saw how it attacked. We'll be ready for it when we find it."

"My point is, Cortes," said the Vector, "that this thing is powerful. You must be careful."

"We'll be careful," Cortes growled. "Come on," he said to the rest of his crew, "it's nearly dark. We should get out to where we can find this thing."

Mahad and Dahlia headed to the bridge door.

"Cortes…" said Lena.

"Lena, can you please stay here?" said Cortes, pausing and blocking her way any further.

"I want to help…"

"Then stay and keep an eye on Cheng. You already did such a good job today. Besides, you can't use your powers at night; I don't want you in danger."

Lena sighed. "Okay…"

Wayan was still looking over the Vector's shoulder at the screen. "Do you think…" he said, obviously thinking hard, "that that werewolf knows it's a werewolf? You said the Sphere must have abandoned the project because they couldn't control the werewolves… they might not be able to control themselves…"

"Wayan, hurry up!" snapped Cortes.

The Vector scowled. "Make sure he doesn't get himself hurt? Please?"

Wayan nodded, still looking like he wanted to ask more. Instead he turned and headed out the bridge door behind Mahad and Dahlia.

Cortes went to follow.

"Cortes…" said Lena again.

"Just keep an eye on him, please?" growled Cortes, though he was trying to keep himself from getting angry at her. He followed Wayan out the door.

"But don't you want to say goodbye to Cheng?" said Lena to the empty door. He wasn't a werewolf yet.

The Vector sighed. "Don't worry about it, Lena. He's got a lot on his mind." He turned back to the computers screen.

"I'm going to go check on Cheng," sighed Lena. She headed back down into the ship.

----

Outside the Saint Nazaire, a teenage girl watched the pirates leave. She was working on the damaged engine, a grease gun in one hand. Her attention was obviously not on her official job however, as she watched the pirates closely, and had already overfilled the component she was greasing.

She dropped the gun, fished in her pants and pulled out a radio.

"Hey, mister mayor?" she whispered loudly into it once it was activated.

The radio fizzled for a second. "Tara? Yeah, I'm reading you…"

"The pirates have left their ship, Sir. I think it's all of them except the little girl and the old man. And the kid that got bitten, of course…"

"Good. Good. Thankyou, Tara. Your help has been invaluable."

"You're… you're not going to hurt him, are you?"

"Of course not!" The mayor sounded shocked, and Tara bit her tongue. Of course he wouldn't! "We just want to keep him and Marquis safe. The pirates just don't understand how dangerous what they're playing with is. I promise you, we wouldn't dream of hurting the boy."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

"Quite alright, honey."

"Hey, Tara! Finish up it's nearly dark!"

"Got to go. Hope you get him someplace safe before it's too late!"

----

On the outskirts of town, there was something waiting for the pirates that they had not been expecting.

"What are all these people doing here!?" Cortes roared.

"I'm guessing," said Dahlia, "that it was because of Mahad's announcement in the tavern today…"

Cortes turned on Mahad. "What…?"

"They already knew!" protested Mahad, glaring hard at Dahlia. "They were asking questions, I just thought I'd get up and tell them exactly what we were doing!"

"It _is_ a small town, Cortes," muttered Wayan.

The crowd of people waiting on the outskirts of town wasn't particularly huge. But it was so contrary to 'everyone stay inside or the werewolves will eat you!' that it was odd. It wasn't quite dark yet though. The sun could still be seen touching the lower reaches of the western sky. The moon hadn't risen yet, which was probably the most important factor in whether people wanted to be outside or not.

A sweet looking old lady wandered up to Cortes, and offered up a plate of cookies. "Would you like a cookie, dear?"

As frustrated as he was, Cortes found it very difficult to be angry at an old lady. "No… thankyou…"

"Cookies!" exclaimed Mahad, grabbing a few.

"These people shouldn't be out here," Cortes grumbled, "it's dangerous. And we won't be able to do anything…"

"What's everyone doing out here?" Dahlia asked the old lady.

"Oh? We just want to see you kill those hairy bastards," the old lady smiled.

Mahad grabbed another cookie.

"Enough! You can't afford to put on weight!" exclaimed the old lady, slapping Mahad in the stomach with the back of her hand.

Mahad was unable to respond due to a mouthful of cookie.

Dahlia choked back a giggle.

"We'd better get them to go home," said Wayan.

"Alright… everybody listen up!" Cortes shouted.

"Kill the werewolves!" someone shouted from the crowd in response. This resulted in the microsecond of quiet Cortes had obtained being obliterated in shouts of affirmation.

Cortes growled. "You all have to go home!"

Nobody seemed to hear him, or simply chose to ignore him. Cortes tensed. The people on Puerto Angel would instantly be quiet and listen to him.

A woman sidled up next to him, and waved an arm at the crowd. The noise level instantly dropped a fraction. Those who were still talking and yelling turned to see why, and within a few seconds everyone was quiet enough for her voice to be heard. "Okay everybody, I know you're all very excited about what these pirates are going to do for us. But they've got a job to do and right now we're all just getting in the way. We all need to go home. We need to stay where it's safe, just in case anything goes wrong. We can thank them later."

Cortes hands were tightly clamped into fists, and he was almost physically shaking. A quick glance over at the person who'd done what he had been unable to accomplish had revealed it was the woman from the hospital from the night before. Anger had flared, but Cortes had kept his head enough to know that for whatever reason she was doing them a favour.

"Sorry, Lizzie!" someone shouted as the crowd dispersed.

She turned to the pirates. "They're just curious. Listen…"

"Let me guess, you're sorry about last night?" snapped Mahad.

She sighed. "Yeah. Is your kid okay?"

"He's fine," Cortes managed to growl out.

"Look, we just…"

"Maybe you'd better go home. Before it gets dark," said Cortes bluntly.

Lizzie dropped her eyes. "Okay, okay, I understand…"

"If you _understood_," Cortes snarled, no longer able to contain his anger, "you would have let us inside! I have a kid who's turned into some bloody monster, and this is the only way I know to fix it!"

Lizzie looked up at him, and blinked a few times, her eyes watery. "Okay. I'll go inside then." She turned and left.

Cortes drew in a breath, trying to calm himself down.

Wayan tried to rest a hand on his Captain's shoulder, but Cortes stepped away as he felt the touch. "We've got a job to do," he barked. "Dahlia, Mahad, you two start looking off in that direction. Wayan and I'll go this way. And be careful, alright?"

"Yes, Sir," Dahlia nodded.

The pirates headed off in their respective directions.

----

Many miles away, a figure sat atop a rocky outcropping. The dimming sunlight reflected off its metal hide. It almost looked like a gargoyle or dragon was perched there. The only light it itself made was from two piercing 'eyes'. The circuitry in these eyes made their sight as sharp as an eagle's. It saw across the many miles to the pirates as they split and headed out.

This image was transmitted back to a woman, sitting observing the image on her computer's screen. She smiled. "Let the hunt begin." She sent an order to the machine, and the 'eyes' flashed as it was received.

The machine dropped off the outcropping, and its canvas wings unfurled, lifting it up on spirals of warm air. It picked a target, and then glided away in its chosen direction.

----

The Vector was staring intently at his computer screen when there was a knock at the door to the bridge.

"What?" He turned around.

Three men with guns filed onto the bridge, followed by a 7 foot long floating metal canister.

The Vector tensed, and stood up carefully. The men had guns, but they appeared to be in some sort of uniform. They were most likely the bloc's police or army. "What do you want?"

"Relax, old man. We're not here for you."

"Lay off him, Daniel," the second man snapped. He put his gun back in his holster. "Just, relax. We're not here to hurt anyone. Julian, the mayor sent us. We've come to take the kid that got infected."

The Vector started. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that."

"He's a threat to this bloc," said Daniel. "You think you can put everyone else in danger just because you're not from around here?"

"We are putting no one in danger," said the Vector tersely. "The child is secure; he's locked up well. We wouldn't dream of putting anyone else in danger. Rest assured, he cannot get out."

"Are you sure…"

"Daniel…" the other man growled again.

Daniel sighed, and backed down. "Sorry, Jack."

Jack turned back to the Vector. "We're not going to hurt him, I promise. But we need to be positive he is someplace _we_ know is secure. I'm real sorry."

The Vector looked between the three men, thinking hard. There was no way he could stop them, even if he had wanted to. He sighed. "Alright, I'll show you were he is."

"Thanks," said Jack. He turned to the third man, the one minding the canister. "Okay, bring that through… Andre, are you even sober?"

The third man just looked at him as if he didn't really care. "More so than usual…"

Jack huffed, not particularly happy with his men at that moment. "Show us the way," he said to the Vector.

The Vector did as he was asked, all the while thinking of a way out of this. He could think of none that wouldn't result in someone getting hurt. He also didn't think Lena would be too keen to let Cheng go. But it was nearly dark; her Seijin powers would not last for much longer.

They went down to the medical supply room, and entered.

"What's going on?" Lena asked, standing up.

Cheng looked up from where he was sitting.

"We've come for the boy," Jack said bluntly. "We won't hurt him; we just want to put him someplace safe."

"Where he can't hurt anybody else," Daniel added.

"He's safe here!" Lena protested.

"Lena…" the Vector tried.

Lena's hands had started to glow blue. "They can't take him!"

"Look, love," said Daniel, stepping forward towards Cheng. "We won't hurt him…"

A Seijin blast jumped from her hands, throwing Daniel roughly into the wall.

Andre drew out his weapon, pointing it at Lena.

"Alright, enough!" Jack shouted, pushing the muzzle of Andre's gun towards the floor.

Daniel got up, rubbing his shoulder and cursing under his breath.

"Lena, this will only get somebody hurt…" said the Vector.

The blue on Lena's hands was starting to fade as the sun set. If she was going to do something she had to do it now. "But…"

"Lena…" Cheng had gotten up, and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Maybe you should just let them."

"They don't have any right to take you away…"

"I'll be locked up here anyway. They said they wouldn't hurt me. And I don't want anybody to get hurt because of me…"

Lena looked back down at her hands and watched the energy on them dissipate. The sun had just dropped below the horizon. If she had wanted to do anything, her chance was gone.

There was a hiss, and the canister cracked open. "Okay, kid," said Jack, "get inside. You're not claustrophobic, are you?" He was making some small attempt to be nice, but it wasn't really working.

Cheng drew in a breath, and walked over to the metal tube. "Not really…" He was a little bit afraid because he didn't know where he was being taken. But in light of everything that had happened the night before, it just didn't seem so scary. They _had_ said they were doing this so people would be safe. Maybe they also knew some way to help him. He climbed inside and lay down.

"Shut it…" Andre growled, looking nervously at Cheng, "before it changes…"

"You come to work drunk, you don't get to say anything, got it!?" Jack growled back, pinning the other man with a glare.

He turned back to Cheng. "This thing's going to get dark when I shut it. It keeps out the moonlight. You ready?"

Cheng nodded.

"Don't worry Cheng, we'll come for you later," said the Vector.

The canister slid shut, and the men filed out.

Lena took a step after them, but the Vector dropped a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay, Lena. We'll be able to get him later, but not now."


	7. Chapter 7

The sun had set now, and Wayan could just see the full moon beginning to peak over the edge of the block.

"Cortes…"

"What is it, Wayan?" said Cortes, his temper still a little short. He had calmed somewhat from his recent outburst, however.

Many thoughts had been running through Wayan's mind. At first, he'd dismissed them instantly, as soon as they'd surfaced, because they were so ridiculous. But as he thought more about them, they'd begun to make sense.

"I have no idea what I did after I left the tavern yesterday."

Cortes stepped over a bit of brush, and then looked back at Wayan. "What do you mean…?"

"I can't remember anything since leaving the tavern. The next thing I remember after that is waking up in bed… without any clothes."

Cortes continued to stare at him, as much as he could without tripping over any grass or rocks. He realised this was bothering Wayan, and he seemed to think it important, but he still was not understanding why. "Why is this important, Wayan?"

"I… I think… I think I might not remember anything from last night because I turned into a werewolf."

This time, Cortes stopped. He stared hard at Wayan. Then he just shook his head. "No…"

"Why not?" said Wayan, beginning to get flustered. "Cheng couldn't remember exactly what happened. He completely tore up his clothes, and I'm missing a whole set!"

"It's not funny, Wayan!" Cortes shouted. He turned back around, and continued to stomp through the brush. He couldn't look at Wayan right now. This wasn't happening.

"I'm not joking!" growled Wayan. He had never yelled at his Captain before, but at that moment he was right on the borderline. "And if I'm right, I'm going to turn into one any second now! I'll kill you!"

Cortes whirled back around. "You are _not_ a werewolf, Wayan! You can't be!"

"Why not!?" Wayan was sweating now. He was beginning to feel like he had last night.

"I know you, Wayan. And you would never do… _that_ to Cheng! And, how would you become one? We haven't even been on Marquis that long, and up until we left the tavern you were in my sight the entire time!"

"I don't think it happened on Marquis…"

At that moment, moonlight broke over the edge of the bloc, lighting up rocks, bush and trees. As it hit Wayan, it felt like a dagger.

The man dropped to his knees and let out a cry.

"Wayan…" Cortes dropped down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Get away!" Wayan growled, throwing Cortes off with a flick of his arm. He was already stronger than he should be.

Cortes sat back up in the dirt and brush, and looked again at Wayan.

The man's body had already started to change. Muscles were getting thicker, his clothes were tearing, and fur was beginning to sprout everywhere. Claws extended from his hands, breaking into the rock beneath them. Wayan looked up, his jaw thrust out in a growl that got deeper as his face extended right before Cortes' eyes. His eyes remained almost the same, a deep piercing green. Exactly like the eyes of the werewolf that had attacked Cheng.

"Damn it, Wayan!" Cortes shouted at the shaking, contorting creature before him. For a second he was torn between hatred and pity. Then fear kicked in. Wayan would kill him, or worse.

Cortes let out a cry of frustration, then got up and just ran.

Wayan lurched forward, the only thing now on his mind the prey he had just spotted. He collapsed back to his knees, his bones still not fully healed from the distortions they had undergone for the transformation. His prey would get a head start.

----

"Stop dragging your feet, Mahad," said Dahlia. She turned around, folding her arms and stopping so Mahad could catch up.

"Sorry…" Mahad muttered, looking at the ground as he tried not to trip over anything.

"We've got to keep together. And alert. We don't want that werewolf to catch us alone…"

"I know alright!" Mahad snapped back. He drew in a breath, and calmed down a little. "Sorry…"

Dahlia gave him a quizzical look, and then kept going.

"I left Cheng alone…" said Mahad, and then trailed off.

Dahlia looked over her shoulder at him.

"He…" Mahad started, realising her attention was on him. "He wanted to go back to the Saint Nazaire. He was scared and I ignored him, and we got lost. Then I left him alone…" he trailed off, and looked at Dahlia somewhat meekly.

Dahlia paused. She was aware that they had a job to do. But Mahad just looked so downcast…

"You didn't know what was going to happen, Mahad," she said.

"I know…" muttered Mahad. He started walking again and passed Dahlia by, looking up at the sky. "But I still shouldn't have been…" He trailed off, staring intently at the sky.

"What…?" said Dahlia, coming and standing beside him.

"I thought I saw something fly over head…"

"Like a ship?"

"No, it was too small. And it didn't have any lights…"

There was a gush of wind, and something came from behind, so close to them that they both dived to the ground for fear of being attacked.

"Did you see it!?" Mahad yelled, pointing in the direction the gust had gone.

"I don't…" Dahlia thought she thought she saw a shape, visible as it blocked the moonlight and stars. Then there was a flash of light from something like ship's thrusters, and she lost sight of it again.

Mahad stood up.

"Mahad! Be careful!"

"I'm just trying to see where it went…"

Moonlight gleamed off metal. It was in front of them. Dahlia wasn't sure how big it was, but then she realised it was coming closer, gliding low through the sky.

"Woah... woah!" said Mahad, realising at the same time as Dahlia that it was coming right at them. He grabbed the back of Dahlia's jacket and tried to pull her back, even as Dahlia scrambled to her feet and tried to get hold of her laser bow.

Mahad tripped over a rock, and dragged Dahlia back down to the ground with him. They tumbled in a pile together, and Dahlia dropped her laser bow.

There was a thud, and when they both looked up the shape was in front of them. It had a solid shape like a main body, and silhouettes of what looked like wings or fins extending away from it. Two lights flickered on in front of them, high up the main form.

"Where'd the bow go?" Dahlia whispered loudly, feeling around on the ground and shoving Mahad over a bit.

"It isn't doing anything…" said Mahad. He stared enthralled at the thing in front of them, trying to force his eyes to adjust more to the darkness. "I think it's a machine…"

The night air was cut by the sound of a mechanical clank, clank, clank. Like a metal chain turning over a pulley.

"It's got a mouth or something!" said Mahad. Now more frightened, he grabbed onto Dahlia's shoulder.

There was a sound like something relatively light whizzing through the air. Dahlia felt the wind of whatever it was rush past her.

Mahad screamed; his grip on Dahlia's shoulder suddenly became tighter.

Dahlia felt something warm and wet splatter the side of her face. "Mahad!"

The machine jerked suddenly, and its body lay down flat on the ground. It did look like it had a mouth, and the two lights were eyes, and the mouth was now lying flat on the ground, gaping open.

Then Mahad was jerked away from Dahlia. He dragged her with him a few feet, trying desperately to keep a grip on her clothes. He was trying to speak, but he was too scared or in too much pain to form a coherent word.

Dahlia grabbed his shirt, trying to get a better grip. The machine loomed closer. Then her boot hit the lower jaw and she pushed against it. Closer now she could hear the machine making the clank, clank, clank noise again.

She felt the tug on Mahad now.

"Argh… stop it!" Mahad managed to sob out.

"I'm not… going to let it get you…" Dahlia growled, pushing harder against the metal jaw and just managing to drag Mahad back a bit.

Mahad let out a cry and struggled against Dahlia's grip.

"Mahad!"

Mahad whimpered, and Dahlia cringed at the sound. It sounded like he was in agony.

A gear clicked over somewhere inside the machine, and the pull became stronger so suddenly that Mahad's shirt tore in Dahlia's grip, and he was pulled away from her.

"No!"

He disappeared inside the machine and the 'mouth' snapped shut. The clang rang out in the night, and had Dahlia been any closer it would likely have taken her arm off.

The machine whirred.

Dahlia growled, and grabbed the front of the machine's face. She was looking for a gap, anyway to open the mouth. Her fingers pried around the beast's jaw, but it completely ignored her.

Suddenly it jerked its body back upwards, and Dahlia was thrown back to the ground. There was a blast of burning gases as the thrusters ignited.

Dahlia noticed a faint yellow glow on the ground, and snatched up her laser bow.

The machine lifted off.

Dahlia stood up, and drew back the bow.

The machine was at least forty foot up in the air now. She looked through the laser bow's sight, and the image of the machine shook and blurred. She couldn't shoot it down without killing Mahad. If he wasn't dead already.

The thrusters cut out, and the machine was barely visible again. The last thing Dahlia heard was a soft sound like a sail unfurling, and then she completely lost sight of it.

The laser bow shook in her grip; the only thing in her view now was stars. "Fuck!" Dahlia screamed at the night air, and released the yellow energy arrow into the atmosphere, aiming at nothing.

----

Cortes had ducked behind a rocky outcropping that was slightly above the surrounding landscape, and afforded a moonlit view of most of the area around him. Cortes did not want Wayan sneaking up on him. At least from here, he might be able to see him before he got near. How did a werewolf hunt, would it see him up here?

Cortes scowled, angry at himself for thinking of 'it' again. _Wayan_ was a werewolf; the werewolf that had attacked Cheng. Up until now, Cortes had wanted to kill the beast. He hadn't even thought that it was, or had, been a human being. Not until it was revealed to be someone he cared about. Now, he didn't know how to stop it. He couldn't, wouldn't try to kill it anymore. Somehow, that made it all the more harder. How could he save Wayan from himself? More importantly, how could he do so without getting killed in the process?

The movement of a shadow caught Cortes' eye. He flattened his body against the rock, and dragged himself carefully forward so he could just peer over the edge. Yup, there it was again. He had to keep focused on the moving shadow to follow it, but there definitely was something moving down there. About the size of a man, and as black as the shadows it was moving between. He watched Wayan move, until he was close enough that he could make out his actual shape.

He was sniffing the ground, moving the exact track Cortes had followed.

Cortes swore under his breath. He tried to control his breathing, watching Wayan carefully. Hopefully...

Wayan stopped on top of a large rock that was about a few feet high. He sniffed around, looking confused.

Cortes let out a breath. He'd made sure he got a pretty good leap off of that and onto another outcropping that wasn't exactly that easy. It looked like it had at the least bought him some time. He watched Wayan, and tried to think. There had to be some way to catch or disable him. But up here he had nothing save his rifle. What energy level would be strong enough to stun Wayan? He didn't want to hurt him, but a stun level for a human might be too weak. He might only have one shot, as soon as Wayan knew he was shooting he might put back up that shield thing.

All of a sudden, there was a short blast of noise that cut into the night air, making Cortes jump.

Down below, Wayan was suddenly alert, looking all around him and breathing in deep lungfuls of air.

Cortes looked down; the sound had come from his radio.

"...tes, we... help. ... taken by some ..."

Cortes recognised Dahlia's voice, mangled though it was by interference. He grabbed the radio in a rush, attempting to mute it. "Not now, Dahlia..."

He couldn't feel the right button in the dark. A quick glance down proved Wayan was close to pinpointing the sound. He squeezed the radio again, and then smashed it hard against the rock underneath him. The radio casing shattered, and the sound became more garbled, but it still did not silence it completely. Cortes hit it again, causing half the casing to break off. A circuit board cut into his hand, and another component flew out and bounced down the small cliff in front of him. The radio was silent, and Cortes let out a sigh.

He looked down again. Where was Wayan? He quickly pinpointed him. Now he was at the bottom of the cliff. He sniffed the bit of radio that had fallen down, and then looked straight up at Cortes.

Cortes drew in a breath, and shifted back.

Suddenly there was a rush of movement, and Wayan had leapt straight up the small cliff face. His front paws gripped the top of the ledge, claws digging into the rock. He howled, and then pulled himself up.

Cortes backed up across the ledge on his backside, grabbing up his rifle as he moved back. He came up, back flat against another bit of rock.

Wayan stood up and moved towards him. He thought he had his prey cornered.

Cortes gripped his rifle. "Wayan, can you understand me? Stay back... that's an order!"

Wayan paused for a brief moment, watching Cortes as if a little confused. Then he let out a huff of warm air, deciding he didn't need to listen to what this man told him.

Cortes brought his rifle forward and shot Wayan in the chest.

Wayan yelped and skidded back across the rock. He gripped his claws in, bared his teeth and growled. A paw lifted up into the air, blue energy gleaming around it as Wayan drew in moonlight.

Cortes eye's widened. He threw himself to the side just as the paw came crashing down upon the rock he'd been leaning against. The impact released a blast of energy, and this tossed Cortes a few feet away. When he looked behind him, he could see that it had left a crater in the rock far greater than Wayan's strength along should have been capable of. Even Wayan seemed surprised by the blast it had created.

Cortes took that chance to get up and run. He pulled himself up and leapt down the path he'd followed to get up to the rocky outcropping in the first place. It wasn't that high, but falling down could still seriously injure him. He'd just made it to the bottom when Wayan smashed into the dust ahead of him. He'd leapt down from some distance up the rock, and had cut off Cortes' route of escape.

"Wayan..." Cortes warned, gripping the gun again.

Wayan knew what the gun had done before. He approached warily, his teeth bared, and arms faintly glowing beneath the fur.

Cortes backed up, looking for another way of escape. His hand came up against rock, and he glanced quickly behind him. There were two rocks leaned against each other, creating a sort of small crevice. He backed up slowly, slipping between them.

Wayan growled, and leapt at him. He crashed against the two rocks, causing them to grind against each other. Cortes had already slipped between them. Wayan growled again and pushed a paw into the crevice, trying to swipe at Cortes.

Cortes backed up, narrowly avoiding the claws. He slid all the way through, coming out the other side.

Wayan clawed at the rocks again, causing them to sink further into each other.

Cortes took his rifle, and thumbed the power setting up a notch. He shot at Wayan again. This time the blast was stronger, turning where it hit the rocks to powder, and causing Wayan to yelp louder and pull his paw out of the crevice.

Wayan climbed on top of the two crumbling rocks. He looked angrier now. But at the same time more wary, charged but now almost too scared to attack Cortes.

Cortes took a careful step forward.

Wayan growled a warning, and stepped back one pace.

"Wayan... I don't want to hurt you..."

Wayan snarled, and hurled a blast of power at Cortes. Cortes had to leap out of the way again as it ploughed into the earth, throwing up dirt. When the dust cleared, Wayan had vanished from atop the rocks.

Cortes looked around, almost expecting to be thrown to the ground as Wayan came at him from an unknown direction. He swung around in a full circle, his rifle charged and ready. But there was no movement. Had he scared Wayan away?

There was the slightest noise behind him, and Cortes whirled around, all but ready to pull the trigger to protect himself.

"Sir!"

"Dahlia!" Cortes balked, and then swung the rifle away from her chest. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry, sir... but it's Mahad..."

"Shh..." said Cortes, not really wanting to cut her off. But he had to make sure it was safe. He stepped up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, his other arm swinging the charged rifle about. Dahlia knew to be quiet as Cortes listened carefully. Satisfied everything was clear he sighed and lowered the gun. "Okay. Where's Mahad."

"Something took him."

"A werewolf?"

Dahlia shook her head. "No. It was some sort of flying machine. I... I don't know if it killed him or not... but it picked him up in its mouth and flew off!"

Cortes stared at her. "A what?"

"I don't know! It was a machine. It looked almost like some sort of dragon."

Cortes let out a breath and shook his head. "A dragon. A bloody dragon!"

"Cortes, Mahad's gone. I don't know where it took him."

Cortes ran a hand over his gun, thinking. Everything was falling apart in his hands.

"Sir..." said Dahlia eventually, uncomfortable with his quiet. "Where's Wayan?"

Cortes looked back up. "Wayan _is_ the werewolf, Dahlia. At the Sphere base he cut his hand. I think he picked up the virus there. He's what started this. He turned Cheng into a werewolf."

Out in the night, something howled.

"That's him..." said Dahlia.

Cortes nodded. "And now we've got to find some way to get him safe without him hurting anybody... else."

"Okay," said Dahlia. "But what about Mahad?"

Cortes paused. "Now we find Wayan. Ask me about Mahad later."

And with that he set off in the direction the howl had come from.

Dahlia followed him.


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road,

An' I'll be in Scotland before ye',

But woe is my heart until we meet again

On the Bonnie, bonnie banks O' Loch Lomond...

"Oh, quiet I know you can handle it, girl..."

Christophe stopped his rather loud singing, and smacked a button on his console, sending the blaring alarm buzzer silent. The ship he flew had once been a locomotive, but as with most of late earth machines, had been overhauled and outfitted with whatever engines and gravity stabilisers that could be fitted in, on or over the body. He'd chosen this ship because she could haul quite a few cargo containers. Of course, he'd only been able to afford one of those. It trailed behind the ship, its only machinery two small gravity negators to keep it 'afloat'. There was still a bit of space inside the powered part of the ship itself, though the engines took up most of the room. Just enough room to fit in a few personal items and a place to sleep. At least the machinery kept it nice and toasty at night. And it had come with a microwave.

He still missed the Callisto. But a part of him liked this smaller ship. It was easier to take care of, despite its numerous wiring problems. Much smaller. Which was both good and bad. He got cramped sometimes, but at least it was less lonely than a huge ship with no crew...

That whole destruction of the Callisto had put him back in the bad books with the Sphere. There went years of hard work! Despite the thought, Christophe couldn't help smiling. He'd do it all again for Aran. The smile faded ever so slightly. He just hoped his brother appreciated the gesture.

Still, all his business had not just been with the Sphere. He still had connections. And there were some Sphere agents who were quite happy to accept business from unendorsed business men. For the right price.

He checked one of the screens on front of him. He was nearly at his destination. A Sphere base, hidden on the far side of a bloc called Marquis. Despite the full cargo container of space he had, this transaction had only required he bring one small batch of cargo, contained in a self cooled container no more than two foot square. That small batch of cargo, however, would get him quite a tidy sum. He'd delivered to this base before, when he'd still been trying to get the Sphere to trust him. He'd be foolish to think that he'd be able to gain back their trust now. But the scientist who ran the base didn't seem to care much for the Sphere beyond the funding they provided. She would not turn him in. He brought in the goods when he said he would, and didn't suddenly want to be paid a higher price. At least not without the proper negotiations. Plus he thought she kind of liked him.

He needed the money anyway. He wasn't really sure what the containers contents would be used for. He knew it contained vials of Seijin DNA; he always liked to know what he was carrying. But what it was used for didn't really matter; sometimes it was better just not to know. And if he didn't know, he wasn't really responsible for it, was he? Couldn't be help responsible for something you didn't know. He just had to concentrate on the business end of it.

The ship pulled up next to a rocky outcropping on the very edge of the bloc. It looked just like rock, but Christophe knew from previous experience that this was where the docking facility was for the Sphere base. He drew the ship up next to the rock, steadying her carefully so it wouldn't drift too close. Once that was done, he activated his radio. "Hello, anybody home?"

That done, he simply waited. She wanted the cargo, he was sure she had heard, she would eventually answer.

He waited longer than he had last time though. Nearly a full twenty minutes, before there was a response.

"Christophe? It's about time. I'm opening the dock now."

Christophe smiled. "Well…" he said back into the radio. "I've been here for nearly the last half hour."

"I was busy with something. Now if you want to get paid, just dock the ship!"

Christophe grinned, not bothering to reply, he just manoeuvred the ship into the gap now opening in the rock face. It was easier than last time. The Callisto could only just fit her nose in. This ship, he could pull right into the docking bay.

He finished the docking procedure, powered down the engines, grabbed up the container of goods, and stepped outside through the ship's door.

----

Mahad groaned, and blearily tried to open his eyes. Light hit them, and he shut them again. It hurt.

Most of him seemed to hurt. His whole body ached. Particularly his right shoulder. That _really_ hurt.

Mahad kept his eyes shut, trying to remember what had happened. There had been that machine that attacked him and Dahlia. Then he'd felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, excruciating. It had shot something into him, and then dragged him inside.

He remembered little from inside the machine. He remembered the smell, like death, and how cramped and how scared he'd been. Then he must have passed out.

What if he was still inside?

On that thought, Mahad was still too scared to open his eyes. He tried to stretch, even though his body hurt. But not as much as it had a moment ago…

He didn't hit anything; he couldn't have still been inside the beast.

Mahad slowly opened his eyes, letting the light in. He was in a smallish cell. He blinked, glancing around. But where?

He pushed himself up on his left arm. His right shoulder still really hurt, but somehow, he thought it should hurt more. He knew he'd lost blood, shouldn't he feel weaker than this?

Then Mahad looked down at his hands, and nearly fell over backwards. His hands were… _furry_.

He pulled up his shirt. More fur. Then put his hand to his face. Fur.

"I'm a…" he stared at himself. "Werewolf. No…"

It wasn't right. How? _And why don't I feel like ripping anyone apart?_

Cheng had turned wild when he'd become one. Mahad felt perfectly normally, asides from the lack of hurt from his encounter with the machine. And he still fit in his clothes… just. Come to think of it his shoes felt a bit tight.

He moved his arms down to get the shoes off, and felt his shoulder sting again.

"Argh!" It sounded almost like a growl.

Mahad put a hand to his right shoulder, and felt something like a steel shaft still there. He turned and looked, and felt, and found there was still something like a small metal harpoon jutting out of his shoulder. That must have been what the machine dragged him in with.

Mahad looked at it. It just… being in his shoulder was upsetting him more right now than the pain. _If I'm a werewolf…_ He grabbed the end of the harpoon and pulled, intending to see how much it was going to hurt. The gentle tug he had intended turned out to be a vicious yank, and the harpoon tore out of his shoulder, the back-turned hooks from the other side catching on flesh and tendons, tearing them out in a spurt of blood.

Mahad dropped the metal with a clang, and clung to his shoulder, gasping and doubling over. The pain was worse than when it had gone in. But it lasted barely a few seconds. Mahad sat back up as the agony left his shoulder, wiped a sleeve across his eyes, and then looked at his shoulder again. Just in time to see the last bit of flesh heal over, and fur grow back. It looked like nothing had been there, and now the pain was practically completely gone.

He stared for a few more seconds, before accepting it and again looking to take in his surroundings. The only opening in the cell was under the door, a small slot which looked like it was intended to slide food or something through. Above that was a small, circular, grimy window.

Mahad stood, a little shakily, and tried to peer through. The lighting however made this difficult. All he could see was his own reflection. His face covered with dark fur, his nose slightly elongated, and his ears also elongated and shifted upwards.

_Where am I? _Mahad wondered_. And how in Skyland did I turn into this...?_

----

"Everything appears to be here…" the woman frowned, lifting the lid to the cold container and looking inside.

Christophe leaned against the bulkhead; arms crossed, and grinned at her. "What else did you expect, Natasha?"

The two stood in the docking bay of the concealed facility. The docking bay door was cracked open, letting in a bit of moonlight, and the night breeze. Despite the camouflage, at this time of night the facility really didn't need to be perfectly hidden. The docking bay itself was relatively small, just big enough to fit Christophe's current ship inside. It was rusting a little bit too.

"One can't be too careful…" she scowled. She threw the lid shut, satisfied.

"Now, about payment…"

"I'll send it to your account. Just like I always do…"

"Yeah… about that…" Christophe chewed his lip.

Natasha watched him warily. "Yes…"

"Well, you know how it was with the Sphere… and how I sort of pissed them off…"

The woman's eyes widened, then she growled and slapped her forehead. "You pissed off the Sphere, so they closed your account? Great."

"Yeah. With everything in it," Christophe scowled.

"You're lucky I don't give a damn about them anymore." She sighed. "At least not until I get this experiment working… and they actually pay me."

"Speaking of…"

"I know, I know! But I need your account…"

"Cash is fine…"

"What makes you think I have cash? There's nothing to buy with cash out here!"

"Don't you ever go out?"

"I'm too busy!"

The moment became awkward, and the two stared at each other. They'd made exchanges before, so knew each other enough. But it was the sort of business where you didn't exactly know how far the other person could be trusted outside the actual deal. Natasha was currently wondering if Christophe didn't believe her, and was going to pull a gun and start searching for money. Which would've been stupid of him, because she had enough defence robots inside to make a gun useless. Christophe didn't even have a gun on him, and wasn't even considering that tactic; he was simply wondering how he was going to get paid. A small part of his mind was also wondering if he still had enough cash for anything better than canned baked beans for dinner.

"Well…?" Christophe gave her somewhat of a dorky grin. He seemed to be finding the situation more amusing than aggravating.

Then Natasha had an idea. "You know…" she said, sidling up just a bit closer to Christophe. "I'm thinking of a way I could pay you back… if you're interested? It gets awfully lonely on this research base all by myself."

Christophe's eyes widened just a bit, and he stepped off from the wall, grinning even more now. "Oh, are you?"

He wasn't so slow of the mark. He could tell exactly what was being suggested.

"Yeah…" said Natasha, now standing so close to Christophe that their bodies pressed against each other, and she had to crane her neck up to look him in the eye. "Follow me… I'll put this away first…" she indicated the container in her hand.

"Sure…" Christophe continued smiling. He followed her as she stepped away and through a door that led deeper into the facility. He pushed down the part of his brain that was telling him this was not going to help him buy something better than baked beans for dinner.

It also didn't occur to him that his might lead to him learning more about what his deliveries were being used for than he really wanted to know. But Christophe had other things on his mind.

----

Inside the facility were many, many rooms. Many looked like just storage, but many more looked like they simply were not used. Eventually, they came to a room which was cleaner, and filled with equipment that looked like it was still being used and functioning. The room was still cluttered, as if despite the huge facility Natasha still wanted to have everything she used in the same space.

She marched across the room, opening a heavy metal door. It led to a freezer. She carefully placed the container inside it, then closed the door and locked it.

Christophe surveyed the room, taking in all the equipment. It was difficult to tell exactly what it was all for, and he'd just remembered that he didn't want to know.

"I want to show you something first," said Natasha, grabbing his hand as she walked past, and pulling him away from his inspection of the equipment.

"Can we just…"

"Shh," she said, turning and pressing a finger to Christophe's lips. "You can be patient, can't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Good." She turned around, and continued leading him.

Halfway down the next hallway, they nearly ran into one of the base's defence machines.

"Woah!" Christophe pulled up short as it stomped around the corner. It was about seven feet tall, with a long neck, and lots of claws.

"Relax, you're with me. It won't hurt you."

They both moved to the side, and allowed the machine to pass before continuing. Christophe started to notice that the air in this part of the base kind of stank. Natasha didn't seem to notice.

"I know you didn't want to know what your deliveries were for last time you were here. But what I'm working on here… once I can get it to work… is a real breakthrough. If the bastards in the Sphere will actually take me seriously… and they will once I get this right… it will benefit the Sphere to no end."

"… yeah?" said Christophe, a little nervously. That was exactly the kind of information he _didn't_ want to know. _Well… it does sound like she's not getting it to work… so it's still okay…_

"Seijins can only use their powers during the daytime, right? Well, I've been combining Seijin DNA with the werewolf virus. The werewolf virus is activated by moonlight. If I can combine that correctly, I will be able to create a soldier, with Seijin powers, that can operate at night. It'll be better than those stupid Brigs Tibald Ye designed…"

"Yeah, sounds…" Christophe trailed off, which didn't really matter, because Natasha was still talking excitedly about her project. _Okay, now I don't feel bad about delivering her goods… the girl's crazy…_

"I think I've nearly perfected it," Natasha was saying at the point Christophe started listening to her again. "This last subject looks promising… but he was still unconscious when I left to meet you…"

"Subject?" Now he felt bad again. _Maybe they volunteered?_

She stopped suddenly in front of a cell door. Then turned and peered through the small circular window set in the top of it. She smiled. "It looks like it's taken affect…" She grabbed Christophe, and shoved him up against the window so he could look inside.

Christophe had no choice but to do so. It took him the briefest of moments to focus on what was in there. But when he did he froze, just staring, his breath momentarily fogging the glass. When that cleared, it was still there.

"See… I bet you didn't believe me…" said Natasha, smiling behind him.

Christophe swallowed, staring at the figure through the window. The figure stared back at him. It's face was covered in fur; stuck somewhere between human and animal. But it wasn't just that there was a werewolf staring right back at him, but those clothes were familiar.

"Hey…" the figure growled. "What are you doing here, Ch…"

"What!" Natasha exclaimed, cutting off the rest of her subject's sentence. She shoved past Christophe. "What did you just say?" she shouted through the window.

"Who are you?" the subject said. His voice was deeper, and growly. But Christophe recognised that too.

_Mahad._

"What am I doing here!?" Mahad demanded again.

The door shook suddenly, and Natasha jumped back.

"This is amazing!" she said to Christophe. "It's worked!"

"What…"

"They've never spoken before! They've just been like animals! Soldiers are no good if they can't understand orders. This one is different, he understands. He can speak… I bet he has control of the werewolf part…"

She leapt back up to the window again. "You. I know you probably haven't figured this out yet, but I know you understand me. Turn yourself back… see if you can change yourself back to human form!"

"What!?" Mahad growled back. "Why should I listen to you? How'd I get like this!?"

"You'll listen if you know what's good for you!" Natasha snapped back angrily. "You might be a werewolf, but I have the power here."

She turned away from the window. "I need to get something from the lab… Watch him. See if you can convince him to turn back… he should be able to…" She turned to run off up the hallway.

"Wait…" said Christophe. He grabbed her just before she could leave, then pulled her close and kissed her on the lips. "Let's not forget what I'm down here for."

"Of course not," she smiled as she pulled away from him. "But this is important. Patience is a virtue." With that, she ran up the hallway towards her lab.

Christophe smiled as she left, then held up his right hand. From it dangled a key. "So is pick-pocketing."

With that, Christophe riffled through the keys, found the right one, and opened the door to Mahad's cell.

Mahad practically burst out, and Christophe suddenly doubted the wisdom of letting out someone with a messed up virus in their system. "What are you doing here? Where is here?" he asked. "And why did you just kiss _her_?" He pointed down the hallway, in the direction the scientist had taken.

"Key…" said Christophe simply, holding it up. "Now, do you want to get out of here or not?"

"It's a bit late…" Mahad muttered, looking down at himself.

"You don't know what else she's going to do. She's been trying to turn people into some sort of werewolf-Seijin hybrid, for the Sphere to use as soldiers. Looks like she thinks you've got the right mix. So if I were you, I'd be getting out of here."

Mahad nodded. "Okay, lead the way."

Christophe nodded, picked the right direction, and carefully started heading around the corner. He knew the way back, but had to figure out how to avoid the lab, and the defence robots.

They had gone down a couple of hallways, and then suddenly cut into a small, messy side room.

Outside, Natasha walked past. It looked like she was carrying some scientific looking equipment, as well as what looked like a sparking cattle-prod.

Once she had passed, they continued.

"Just one question…" said Mahad.

Christophe glanced over at him, just in time to see Mahad clumsily remove his shoes, and sling them around his neck.

"My feet hurt…" he muttered. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…"

At that very moment, an alarm went off.

"Busted…" Christophe muttered. "And yet, saved by the bell. Come on…" he grabbed Mahad roughly by the collar, dragging him along.

"Watch it!" Mahad growled, so loud that Christophe jumped back, letting him go. If he hadn't jumped back, he would've been hit by a wildly swinging paw.

"Sorry…" said Mahad, a little surprised by his own anger.

"It's alright…" Christophe was already distracted. They'd made it to the lab. He ducked inside quickly.

"I thought we were trying to get out of here!?"

Christophe came back out in a hurry, carrying a laptop, and a small container of vials. "Payment," he growled. "Now let's go."


	9. Chapter 9

"Are you even sure where he is?" Dahlia asked.

"I know he went this way…" Cortes growled.

The two continued to stomp through the deserted part of the bloc. Cortes had pulled out a flashlight, and was sweeping it across the dirt and brush in front of them. Occasionally, there would be a broken bit of brush. But that could've been from anything, and it was still difficult to see. Cortes was going more from where he'd last seen Wayan heading, as well as the occasional howl that drifted their way. He was getting more agitated, and Dahlia guessed he was realising that keeping up with Wayan would be near impossible. Soon, they might loose his trail completely.

"We need to find some way to stop him…" Cortes muttered. "If he returns to the village, he could hurt someone, or get hurt himself."

"With any luck, everyone will stay inside…"

"I hope so…" Cortes growled, "but I wonder if we made them just that bit more confident…" he trailed off.

They continued on in silence, following where Cortes seemed to think Wayan had gone. But Dahlia was finding it difficult to discern exactly what Cortes was following. He was slowing down, looking even more agitated. He probably didn't know anymore either.

"Sir…"

"He can only go so far…" Cortes muttered, almost to himself.

Then there was the sound of commotion. Something, a short distance away, moved. It wasn't trying to keep that movement silent either.

Cortes switched off the flashlight.

Suddenly, something rushed past, not very far away. They could hear it, and just barely see it.

Cortes crouched down, and Dahlia did likewise.

"Is that Wayan?" Dahlia asked, her voice a whisper.

"I think it's a sheep."

Their eyes now adjusting to the dark, they could see the animal about 30 feet away. It had now stopped, and was looking around, looking confused and a little lost. Its sides were heaving, and they could just make out it looking this way and that.

Dahlia was just about to say something to Cortes, when a shadow seemed to leap out of nowhere. The sheep was engulfed and dashed to the ground, managing a short bleat before there was a crunching noise, and the animal was silent.

Cortes and Dahlia both froze. They could hear crunching, dragging, and the sound of an animal grunting.

"Guess we found him…" Dahlia whispered.

Cortes said nothing. Beside her, he pulled out his gun, and thumbed up the setting. He stared at it quietly for a few seconds, then put up the power again. He kept looking at it. "We need to get him down first try," he said in a hushed voice as Dahlia watched him. "But if it's too powerful…"

"I know. But maybe we don't…"

Cortes looked at her.

"It's too risky if you shoot him on that," she pointed at the setting Cortes now had. "But he's busy now. Maybe that sheep will keep him busy most of the night. We know where he is now. If we just wait until morning, and he doesn't want to move… then he'll just turn back."

Cortes nodded slowly. "Alright…" He carefully shifted, making himself more comfortable in the dirt. They had to be quiet, and they might be there for awhile.

Dahlia settled as well.

Only a few dozen feet away, Wayan continued on his meal, oblivious that he was being watched.

----

"Do you even remember the way out!?" Mahad growled. With his shoes off, his claws now screeched and left scratch marks in the metal floors as he skidded to a halt behind Christophe.

"I was a little distracted on the way in… I think it's this way." Christophe hefted his cargo from one arm to the other, and turned down another corridor.

That was when they ran into one of the base's defence machines.

It was standing down the other end of the corridor, and turned its head sharply, as if hearing them. Its eyes flashed. Then it turned, and began stomping towards them, picking up momentum. It moved faster than it looked it could, its tail swung, the heavy, weighted and spiked end impacting the wall on one side as it swayed behind it.

"Hey… It's okay, I'm with Natasha…" Christophe tried. He shifted his cargo again, and reached for his gun.

Ahead of them, the machine stopped running and skidded across the floor. On its back, metal, wing shaped spikes reared up. Its mouth opened and a flame appeared inside.

Mahad stepped past Christophe, pawing him aside.

The machine and the werewolf collided. Mahad's paw swiped the machine in the face, cutting short the blast of flame before it fully developed. The machine's head was impacted against the wall, crushed and burning. Its main computer was not in the head, however, and it continued its attack. The metal spikes came forward and over the machine's shoulders, one catching on Mahad's arm and grabbing him like a giant metal praying mantis.

Mahad snarled, and pulled against the machine. The spikes were ripped off from the machine's back. Mahad ripped them out of his arm, and clobbered the machine around the body, ripping into it.

It collapsed, some important bit of wiring damaged, its feet kicking in the air as if it wasn't sure what to do with them. It continued to claw at the wall.

Mahad stepped back, panting and clutching his bleeding arm.

"Are you alright?" Christophe asked.

"I'm fine…" Mahad growled. He removed his hand, and his arm was almost healed.

Christophe stared at him blankly for a second, watching the last of Mahad's skin heal back over, and regrow fur.

"Don't we have to get out of here?"

"Right," Christophe nodded, now more serious. He was starting to realise they _could_ get hurt in here. They needed to leave.

This time, he picked the right corridor, and they came out into the docking bay. Across from them was another defence machine. It fixed them with its eyes, and started dashing towards them.

"Get into the ship!" Christophe shouted, pushing Mahad ahead of him.

They just managed to get inside, and Christophe slammed the door, when the machine crashed into the side of the ship, seeming as if it had not even attempted to stop.

"Move over…" Christophe said, trying to slide past Mahad and into the driver's seat. The ship's interior was cramped, and Mahad was taking up a lot more room then he should.

Mahad shifted into the corner, Christophe sat down and powered up the ship.

Outside, the machine slammed into the side of the ship's body again. Then there was the sound like someone putting a hose on the side of the ship, and then the metal started making a crackling noise.

"There goes the paintwork…" Christophe muttered. The ship lifted up under its power, and then Christophe swung it around hard. It didn't move fast, but the movement felt heavy.

The machine only managed to partly punch through the fire-weakened hull with a claw. Then it got caught between the moving ship and the docking bay floor. It was pulled under; crushed and scraped between the ship and concrete.

Christophe lined up the nose of the ship with the door, fired the thrusters and headed the ship towards the docking bay doors.

They began to close.

"There's that woman…" said Mahad, pointing to just beside the docking bay door controls, right next to the door itself.

Natasha stood there. She'd just activated the door controls, and was right now hefting a large, nasty looking weapon onto her shoulder.

"And not looking happy either…" Christophe winced. He pulled a lever on the console towards himself, and the ship accelerated. With his other hand, he pushed another lever.

The ship's horn activated, blaring a blast of noise that made the woman jump.

"Come on, now go…" Christophe growled, trying to push the ship out the docking bay doors before Natasha recovered enough from the loud noise to shoot at them.

There was the sound of a blast and an impact, and the ship swung around hard. Christophe moved his hand from the second lever, and grabbed the control stick that looked as if it had been mishmashed into the ship's already existing controls. He just managed to pull the ship under control.

They exited the docking bay, just clipping the far side of the door with the tail end of the trailing cargo container.

"Alright!" A grin began to spread across Christophe's face.

"Nice going…" Mahad smiled, shifting in the back of the cockpit. It was cramped anyway, and his body was bigger than he was used to.

"It might help if you change back to… human…" said Christophe, noticing the boy's predicament.

"What if I can't?" Mahad muttered. "I just woke up like… this…"

"Natasha seemed to think you'd be able to…"

"Look out!" Mahad shouted suddenly, his voice panicked, and eyes going wide as he pointed out the windshield with a shaking, furry paw.

Christophe looked ahead just in time to see a metal shape flying right at them, large wings extended around it and what looked like a mouth open. Something flew from its mouth and impacted the windscreen, knocking off some chips of glass, but otherwise bouncing off.

"Holy…!" Christophe yanked the controls, and the machine swung away from them, seconds before it itself would have hit the ship. He prodded buttons on his controls, and a screen activated, targeting the creature even though it wasn't visible through the front windshield. "Got ya…" he smirked, and fired the ships weapons.

There was an explosion beside and above them, and Christophe just caught sight of the burning machine falling from the sky. "Now how good was that?!" he grinned, glancing over his shoulder at Mahad.

Mahad had sat down, back pressed hard against the rear wall. He was shivering, and trying to catch his breath.

"Hey, lad. You alright?"

"Ye…. Yeah," Mahad swallowed. "I just… that was the machine that must've brought me here. It just… scared me…"

"Hey, it's alright." Christophe seemed to watch him for a moment. "And on the plus side… you seem to have figured out how to change back…"

Mahad started, and looked down at his hands. Claws were pulling back in, and his fur was simply falling out. Then pain hit, his body seemed to be crushing back in on itself. Mahad gritted his teeth and whimpered. But like when he'd pulled out the harpoon, he was sure it had to pass.

In less then a moment it was gone, and he had turned back to his human form. He looked up, and Christophe was looking down at him, looking a bit worried. But he seemed to understand he couldn't really do anything to help, and had just stayed in the pilot's chair.

"I'm okay…" said Mahad, getting up shakily.

"There's a seat on the back wall…" said Christophe. "Just pull it down."

Mahad found it, sat down, and then busied himself putting back on his shoes.

Christophe figured he needed that moment to pull himself back together, and left the boy doing that whilst he piloted the ship, making sure he was a good distance from the base and that they weren't being followed.

_If you hadn't been delivering all of that Seijin DNA to Natasha_, Christophe's brain told him, _the kid wouldn't have had to go through that horrible transformation_.

_If I hadn't, someone else would have… wouldn't they?_

"Thanks for getting me out of there," Mahad finally said.

"No problem…" said Christophe, not quite making eye contact. Due to that last though, he now wasn't so sure he deserved the thanks. "You said that machine brought you there…" he said, eager to concentrate on something a bit more removed. "What're you doing on Marquis? Is Aran here?"

"Yeah. The Saint Nazaire was damaged, we needed repairs. But I guess we should've gone somewhere else…" Mahad explained to Christophe what had happened over the last few days. About the stories of werewolves, and how they had turned out to be much more than fiction, and about what had happened to Cheng. How they'd gone out to hunt down the werewolf, and then how he'd ended up at the facility where Christophe had found him. At least how much he could remember of that.

Christophe heard him out without interruption. "Alright…" he said once Mahad had finished. "I didn't realise the whole bloc was affected by this werewolf experiment. I didn't even know it worked…" he trailed off. "And I didn't know Aran was looking after Tian's kid..."

"Cheng?"

"Yeah. He didn't introduce me to him last time I came to Puerto Angel. But I guess he thought 'Uncle Chris' would've been a bad influence…"

"You know…" mused Mahad, "I think you blowing up the Callisto like you did might have made Cortes rethink a few things…"

Christophe glanced over his shoulder, and gave Mahad a skewed smile. " … maybe."

"Now it's my turn," said Mahad, just a little forcefully. "How'd you end up in that facility? I didn't see much of it, but it doesn't exactly look like the place you'd just… cruise through…"

Christophe sighed, and turned his attention back towards the front of his ship. "I was making a delivery…"

"Of?'

"Seijin DNA," Christophe eventually relented. "She uses it in her experiments with the werewolf DNA… I just never believed it worked."

"Well, I think we've established it does…" said Mahad, frowning down at himself.

Christophe played with a few controls. "Look, Mahad. I'm sorry, but I didn't know. I have to make money somehow, and it's harder now that the Sphere doesn't trust me…"

"Makes me wonder how you can justify doing _anything_ for the Sphere…" Mahad muttered, brushing a bit of fur from his pants leg.

Christophe threw a look over his shoulder at him.

"Look, it doesn't matter," Mahad stood up, standing behind Christophe at the console. "Can you take me back to the Saint Nazaire? It's probably almost morning, so they might have caught the werewolf… or they might not have… I should at least let them know I'm okay."

"Sure, just show me the way." Christophe paused. "The least I can do is help… I really don't want this thing to cause anymore damage, Mahad. Honest."

Mahad sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, I know."

----

She must have fallen asleep at some stage, because Dahlia felt herself woken by a hand on her shoulder. She grunted, and sat up in the dirt.

"Shh…" Cortes was crouched beside her, staring ahead of them.

Dahlia followed his gaze. Morning light was now peeking over the edge of the bloc. It made it easier to see the dark form that was Wayan. There was no sign of the sheep.

Both Dahlia and Cortes were still as the werewolf stood upright, sniffing the air. He didn't smell anything that disturbed him, and went back down onto all fours.

"I think he's about to go…" said Dahlia.

"Where though?" Cortes growled, grabbing up his weapon. "He's got to change back soon…"

Dahlia glanced over to the horizon quickly. Despite the morning light, the moon had not yet set. "Perhaps he's not as strong now…" she suggested. "There's not as much moonlight now."

"Maybe…" Cortes growled.

Suddenly, Wayan howled, causing the other two pirates to start. He stood up as he did so, then dropped back to all fours. Then he turned and started loping away.

Cortes gritted his teeth, then suddenly stood up. "Wayan!"

The werewolf stopped, and turned its head over his shoulder. He growled, bearing his teeth.

"I think you'd better hold it right there…" said Cortes, raising his gun and stepping cautiously towards Wayan.

Dahlia powered up her laser bow, and stood up behind Cortes. She hadn't actually expected Cortes to take her word that Wayan might be weaker. Somehow, she suspected he still wasn't quite sure of this, and his actions were more of desperation to not let Wayan escape. She glanced back at the moon. Maybe, if they could keep him busy…

Wayan growled again, then turned around and stood up on his hind legs.

"Easy, now," said Cortes, taking another step towards him. "We're not going to hurt you…. And I know you don't want to hurt us either…"

Wayan stepped back, snarled, and then built a ball of energy in his paws.

Cortes stopped walking forwards put didn't back down.

The ball of light in Wayan's paws fizzled, then its energy level dropped, the ball growing smaller. Wayan looked down at it, surprised.

"The moon's going down…" Dahlia whispered to Cortes.

Wayan seemed to also realise this. Perhaps, he even seemed a little bit smaller, and a bit less animal.

"Come on, Wayan," said Cortes, moving forwards again. "I know you're in there. Just come back to the Saint Nazaire, we can work this out…"

Wayan stared at Cortes, now seeming neither aggressive, nor scared. He dropped his paws, and the ball of energy dissipated. Then he dropped back to all fours, turned around, and ran.

"Wayan!" Cortes dashed after him, but there was no way he could keep up.

The werewolf bounded nimbly between rocks and bushes, and eventually disappeared.

Cortes skidded to a halt, his chest heaving. He knew he'd lost him.

Dahlia quickly caught up with him. "Sir…?"

"He's gone!" Cortes snapped. He snarled, and then threw his gun into the dirt.

Dahlia blinked. "What now?"

"How are we supposed to find him? We're going back to the Saint Nazaire…" With that, he picked up his weapon, and started walking back.

Dahlia simply followed him, unable to offer a better solution. For now, it just seemed best to head back. Perhaps the Vector had found out something more that would help them.

----

Wayan skidded to a halt, slumping panting to his knees under an overhanging rock. He'd run until he'd run out of breath. By then, the sun was up, and he'd found himself exhausted. He'd ended up here.

Now, he looked down at his hands. They were back to normal. No more fur; just his dark skin, slick with sweat.

Wayan drew in another breath, catching himself, and sat back up. He was naked again. But this time, he knew why.

He looked about himself, trying to remember, or find any clue to what had happened last night.

_Did I hurt Cortes?_

No, he hadn't. Cortes was the reason he had run. He'd been just human enough to understand that Cortes was trying to approach him. Wayan knew as a werewolf he was dangerous, and he knew he didn't have control. He'd run.

Wayan stood up shakily. He couldn't remember what else he'd done last night. For all he knew, it could be something horrible. He stepped out from under the rock, and looked around warily.

"Well… at least I know I won't turn into a werewolf now." But he still couldn't just head back into town. He didn't know if he'd done something wrong, he didn't know how many people knew he was a werewolf.

And he couldn't face Cortes right now.

He sighed and looked down at the ground in frustration. "I can't just stay here…" he growled. "I've got to figure out how to fix this… or I'm really going to hurt somebody. If I haven't already…"

Wayan looked around again, getting his bearings. A short distance away, he could see the edge of town. He would head there, perhaps sneak back to the Saint Nazaire. He could find out what was going on, and perhaps what the others had found out. He just wouldn't let anyone see him. Now that they knew he was a werewolf, he wasn't sure what would happen. They might lock him up, or spend time worrying about how to fix him when they had other things to worry about, like helping Cheng.

He, however, could look out for himself.

"First, I'd better find some clothes…" Wayan mused, spotting a house on the outskirts of town a short distance away. Outside, there were some clothes on the clothesline.

He looked around carefully, both worried and embarrassed about someone catching him naked, and then snuck over.

He took a pair of jeans, and a t shirt. Then saw a hooded jacket, and took that too, remembering he wanted to stay hidden. He donned the outfit quickly, and then headed into town, wondering if he should also try to find a pair of shoes.

_It _is_ best if I try and figure this out myself,_ Wayan thought. _I think Cortes has enough on his mind already with Cheng. And Cheng will need more help than me._

_And what if you can't figure this out before you change again?_ His mind asked him. _What if you change again and hurt somebody? Again?_

"I am going to figure this out…" Wayan promised himself. _And if I can't, I'll just have to turn myself in. Or go somewhere where there's no way I can hurt anybody._


	10. Chapter 10

"What do you mean they took him away!?" Cortes snarled, only inches away from the Vector's face.

"I mean exactly what I said. Marquis' police came and took him, Cortes. I think they didn't want to risk him getting loose…"

Cortes growled, and stepped away from the Vector. He was barely containing his anger and frustration; he felt if he stayed near the Vector a second longer he may end up accidentally hurting him.

"It's not the worst of our problems, Cortes. You say Wayan's the werewolf?"

"Aye," Cortes growled. "And Mahad was taken by some sort of flying machine. We have no idea where he is either. So, no, it's not the worst of our problems. But right now I don't need anymore!"

"Calm down, Cortes…"

"Why should I be calm!?"

"The Vector is right!" put in Lena. "At least we know where Cheng is! But what about Mahad? We don't know where he is. He could be hurt, or worse…"

"That's right, _we don't know_!" Cortes snapped. "So what are we supposed to do about it?"

"He's probably fine, Lena," Dahlia tried to reassure her, seeing the worry in the young girl's eyes. "It didn't look like it did much to him…" _Liar._

"And just what do you expect us to be able to do about Cheng, Cortes?" asked the Vector. "How will it help? I'm sure he's safe where he is; they didn't want to hurt him or anything…"

"What _else_ are we supposed to do?!" Cortes snarled. He turned, and started pacing the rear of the Saint Nazaire's bridge. His frustration wouldn't allow him to stand still. "We don't know where Mahad or Wayan are. We don't know how to help them, not now. But for some reason, they've taken Cheng. And I can tell you for a _fact_ that Julian is behind that. He knows something about what is going here, and he hasn't told us everything. I'm going right now to make him tell us exactly what's going on. And get Cheng back at the same time. They have no right to take him! We can't do anything until we talk to Julian and find out more…"

Cortes turned on his heel and stalked towards the bridge door, roughly grabbing up his gun from the console.

This gave the Vector the distinct impression that Cortes may intend to do more than 'talk' to Marquis' mayor.

"Cortes…" he called after him, walking behind him to catch him up and stop him before he left. "You're angry, you've got to be…"

"Or course I'm angry!" Cortes snarled. He glared at the Vector for a brief moment. He'd finally shouted loud enough to make the older man shut up. He sighed. "Dahlia, come with me…"

"You've got to let me come too…" started Lena.

Cortes was too frustrated to argue. "Fine."

"Cortes…" the Vector started again.

"You can stay here," Cortes growled. Then he headed out the door.

The Vector sighed.

Dahlia and Lena followed Cortes, Dahlia letting a hand rest briefly on the Vector's shoulder as she left.

As they left the ship, and entered the floor of the repair facility, another ship was coming into dock. This had gotten the repair staff and engineer's considerably excited, as it probably meant more money. The ship looked like some sort of overhauled train, and had probably seen better days.

The pirates' ignored it. That is, until they heard a familiar yell.

"Lena!"

Lena spun around. "Mahad!?"

Mahad was scrambling out of the open door of the docking ship, though it had yet to come to a complete stop.

Lena ran for her brother.

Cortes and Dahlia followed; Dahlia running the first few paces until she caught herself and slowed to a fast walk.

"Mahad!" Lena exclaimed again, throwing her arms around her big brother's neck.

Mahad returned the hug. "Hey, sis."

"Mahad," said Dahlia, "I thought you had… that thing…"

Mahad took his arms from around Lena. "Yeah… I'm alright now though."

"I thought it had hurt you. Or killed you…"

A grin slowly spread across Mahad's face. "So… you were worried then?"

Dahlia rolled her eyes and sighed. "Guess you _are_ alright then."

Mahad grew serious for a moment. "Sort of. Wait until you hear what I've got to tell you… there are some messed up things going on around this bloc…"

"You can say that again," Cortes snapped. "At least one problem is solved…"

"Aran!"

Cortes started as a body came hurtling out of the ship's cockpit, and practically knocked him over.

"Told you I'd see you again, brother!" Christophe said, arms flung around Cortes' shoulders, and looking like he wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon.

Cortes put up with the hug for a brief second, the pushed his brother off. "Not the time, Christophe. What are you doing here?"

Christophe took a step back, his grin fading. "Just business. Oh, and rescuing various members of your crew. Nice to see you too."

"Did you find the werewolf?" Mahad asked, partly because he wanted to know, partly to break the silence between the two brothers.

"Yes," Cortes growled. "Wayan's the werewolf. We lost you; and the bloc's police came and took Cheng while we were gone! The only thing that's gone right so far is finding you again…" He glanced briefly at Christophe, but didn't continue.

"How did Wayan become a…" Mahad shook his head. "Scratch that, I think I have a fair idea…"

Cortes stared hard at him.

"Well…" said Mahad. "That thing that caught me took me to a Sphere research facility… and… now I'm a werewolf too…"

"Just _great_!" Cortes snarled. "Just how'd you manage that?"

"It's not his fault, Aran," said Christophe.

"How'd you end up finding him?" Cortes asked, turning to his brother. "What were _you_ doing at a Sphere facility?"

"What do you think?" Christophe growled. He hadn't exactly expected his brother to welcome him with open arms, but he had hoped his attitude would have changed a bit.

It was at that moment when the head engineer of the repair facility came running up to them. "Hello! Need some repairs? Well… you probably do _need_..."

"No, he doesn't," Cortes snapped.

"Hey, don't worry, we've still got plenty of guys to work on your ship…"

"Forget it," Christophe sighed, "I have no money…"

"Oh… well, you do know you're going to have to pay for the dock though?"

"Hey, don't give me that, I didn't last time…"

"Well, you probably got something repaired, then it would be free…"

"What if I…"

"I'll pay for it," Cortes snarled.

The engineer shrugged. "Fair enough. Sure you don't want to pay for some repairs too…"

"No. Now get back to fixing my ship's engine." Cortes turned back to his crew. "We've wasted enough time as is. We need to go find out what the mayor knows."

"You know, Mahad and I picked up a few things and bits of information at the research base. We might be able to help you figure out what's going on…"

"Tell me on the way…" said Cortes, turning to walk away.

"Hey…" Christophe tried one more time for a positive response. "Thanks for paying for the dock…"

"We needed to get moving," Cortes snapped. "We don't have to time to wait for you to find a free parking space… come on." He turned and stomped out of the repair facility, expecting his crew to follow.

Christophe sighed, gritting his teeth. "Aran, you can be such a bitch sometimes…" he muttered.

"He's just stressed…" offered Mahad.

Christophe huffed. "Next time, remind me not to bother blowing up my ship…"

----

Julian didn't quite expect to see the pirate's storm into his office that morning. He didn't expect to be bodily lifted by the collar from his chair either.

"Where. Is. Cheng?" the pirate Captain snarled. He stood across the other side of the mayor's desk, dragging the man's body forward and lifting him just out of his seat.

_This isn't supposed to happen! Natasha was supposed to take care of them!_ Even as he had that thought, Julian knew he had expected as much. Never trust anyone but yourself. That was why he had taken the child from the ship in the first place. If whatever Natasha did to them didn't get rid of them, or at least solve the problem, Julian had hoped taking the boy might get through the message that he was not to be messed with. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have worked. It had just made Cortes angry.

A man the mayor hadn't seen before reached over and grabbed Cortes by the shoulder, pulling him back. "Aran…"

"Leave me alone, Christophe," Cortes snapped, shrugging the hand off. But he let go Marquis' mayor.

Julian straightened his collar. There was no need to get flustered. "I take it you're not too happy about my police taking your son?"

Cortes didn't bother correcting him. "Damn right. Just what do you think you're playing at?!"

"I told you before. These werewolves cannot be caught or fought, or eliminated. You didn't listen to me, you forced my hand…"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"The boy is safe, don't worry. I simply removed him for the bloc's protection. As well as for your crew and his own."

"I am perfectly capable of looking out for my own crew…"

"Are you?" Julian asked. "You didn't listen to me when I told you it was dangerous out there. You took your crew out on some vendetta because this creature hurt someone you care about. And if I'm not mistaken… not everyone is here. Wayan, wasn't it? Where is he?"

Cortes scowled for the briefest of moments. "Had you told me everything you knew when we asked you, we might not have lost him!"

Mahad slipped around Cortes' shoulder, trying to get into a position where he could talk to the mayor. "Look… I know you're trying to look out for your bloc. But things are really much worse than you think. I got carried off by some flying machine out there! It took me to a base! A Sphere base. Right on the end of your bloc!" He pointed in the direction he believed it to be.

Julian tensed. _Natasha did get something done. But she messed it up!_ "What?"

"Those werewolves that keep threatening your village?" put in Christophe. "They're being made at that base. Perhaps it would be best you helped us, and not just to stop my brother getting angrier."

"There is something out there we can beat," said Mahad, "but we probably do need your help."

Julian threw a look at Cortes. The man was now silent, seeming to understand the rest of his crew were going to have a better chance of getting the mayor to listen. Either that, or he was too angry to continue arguing himself.

_They know too much. Far more than I thought. That much is obvious. This is getting really dangerous. They could ruin everything. And Natasha has done nothing to help; she's just made it worse. I guess I'll have to take care of this myself._

"I had no idea where the werewolves were coming from, I didn't know…" Julian trailed off, intentionally dropping his gaze and staring at his table as if deep in thought. "But if you're sure that what you've found out can really help us… maybe it changes things for us. I simply didn't want you to make things worse…"

"Alright, we get it," Cortes growled. "Stop apologising and help us…"

"Of course. But first, let me take you to your kid. I know you want to make sure he's okay. Then we can work this out…"

"Can you promise us he's okay?" Lena asked. "I think this may be more…"

"Show me where he is," said Cortes, cutting her short. "Then maybe I'll believe you want to help."

Julian smiled. He knew the Captain just really wanted to see that the boy was okay. He hadn't come in shouting about anything else. This was what was most important to him. It was exactly the answer Julian wanted. "Alright, fair enough. Just follow me, and I'll take you to him." He got up from his desk, gesturing for the pirates to follow him.

None of them noticed Marquis' mayor reach into his pocket, grasping a remote control he had sitting in there. He kept it in there, feeling it until he found the right button by feel. He clicked it.

"Mahad…" Lena whispered to her older brother. "I just… I don't feel like we should be following him. It doesn't feel right."

"You're not the only one…" Dahlia muttered.

Both Mahad and Lena looked at her.

"Just stay alert…" she suggested, continuing to follow her Captain. Though she felt uncomfortable, she wouldn't confront him about it.

----

Wayan peeked from around the corner of Marquis' repair station. There were a few workers about, but he could see a clear, safe path to the Saint Nazaire. A path where he wouldn't be seen.

He utilised this, getting himself close to the ship, before boarding. It didn't escape his notice that the ship's engine was still being worked on. _So much for two days. And I bet it's going to cost extra. _Cortes wouldn't be happy, though Wayan expected he was far more worried about other things.

Now, all he needed to do was find out what was going on with the rest of the crew. Had they found out anything more? Would it be better for him to shadow them and figure out what they were learning, or search himself? Either way, he couldn't let himself be seen. It would lead to too many questions. Questions he wasn't prepared to answer just yet.

Wayan took a quick look around the bridge of the Saint Nazaire, but couldn't find anyone. Great, he must have missed them. He considered going down to ask one of the engineers if they knew where they were, but if they also knew he was a werewolf… that would be far worse than the rest of the pirates finding him.

"Well…" Wayan sighed. "While I'm here, I might as well pick up some shoes…" He was really missing his boots, especially after walking through the repair station. He'd only just missed stepping through grease, and was lucky he hadn't stepped on anything sharp. Not that it would have mattered greatly – he could just heal himself.

On that thought, he turned to head down from the bridge and nearly ran into the Vector.

"Wayan!" The Vector exclaimed. "You're alright!"

Wayan started, and took a step backwards.

The Vector noticed the man's apprehension. He paused, not coming any closer. "_Are_ you alright?" he asked.

Wayan sighed. "I just found out I'm a werewolf, Vector. I can't control myself; I tried to kill Cheng. No, I'm not alright."

"None of that is your fault, you know that. But look, you're here, you're safe now. Cortes is really worried about you. We all are."

Wayan smiled slightly. "Sure he's not mad?"

"That too. But not at you."

"I need to find out what's wrong with me, Vector. And fix it before I hurt anyone else…"

The Vector shook his head. "I'm not really sure what's going on either. Cortes and the others went to grill the mayor for more information… I hope Cortes doesn't do something stupid… if you go talk to Cortes…"

"No," Wayan shook his head. "I can't talk to Cortes now. I can't let him see me; I can't let anyone see me. I didn't even mean for you to see me!"

"Perhaps that is wise… certainly don't let anyone on the bloc know you're a werewolf. They've already come and taken Cheng and locked him up. I wish I could have stopped them."

"Oh no," Wayan shook his head. "I should be the one locked up…"

"You've done nothing wrong, Wayan."

"But I _am_ dangerous. At least at night. So I've got to figure this out by _tonight_. Otherwise, I'll have to hand myself in, lock myself up, get far enough away from everybody… I can't let myself hurt anyone else!"

"I understand, Wayan. But you shouldn't do this alone…"

"It's better. It's safer. I'll figure it out, Vector, I promise."

"Alright," the Vector sighed. He realised he would be unable to convince Wayan differently. Besides, he may be right. "But I do suggest you find out what the others are finding out. You don't have to let yourself be seen."

Wayan nodded. "Alright."

"And for goodness sakes, get yourself some shoes! You'll hurt yourself down in the repair station…"

Wayan smiled, and couldn't help laughing. "I was just getting there. You're almost as bad as Cortes!"

----

"Where are you taking us?" Christophe asked.

"Just down to the cells…" said Julian. "I apologise. We couldn't put the boy in the cells in the police station; they were too open to the moonlight. There are some older ones at the back of this building. I believe they were used for holding Seijins, so they're light proof."

Cortes scowled. "He'd better be alright."

"Trust me; he's fine… just through here…" Julian gestured through an open metal gate. Behind it were overgrown bushes, and a path through these. It looked as if some small attempt had been made to keep it clear, but asides from this, it was a mess.

"Are you sure…" Lena asked.

"We've never used these cells before… we have no need to hold Seijins. And not usually werewolves…"

Cortes glared at him then stomped through the gate, followed closely by Christophe. Mahad and Lena followed after them.

Dahlia looked at Marquis' mayor a second more.

"After you…"

Dahlia stepped through the gate.

"Which way?!" Cortes shouted back, having just come to a split in the path.

There was no answer, just a loud metallic clang, followed by Dahlia shouting a phrase that could be considered very unladylike.

Cortes' body tensed, and he pushed back past Christophe.

"Careful…" Christophe muttered, who now had to extricate himself from a bush at the side of the path.

"He shut us in!" Dahlia shouted back at Cortes as he came running around the corner. She grasped the metal bars in her hands, and gave the gate a shake. It simply rattled, but it was attached well. The walls around it were brick, and high.

"Julian!" Cortes shouted, pushing Dahlia aside. He rattled the gate, causing it to make more noise than she had, but it still stayed put.

"Yeah?" he was still there. A slight smirk was on his face that he no longer tried to hide.

"What are you playing at!? Where is Cheng!?"

"I'm sorry, Captain. But I lied. He's safe; but he's locked up at the police station. There's nothing in there but bush. And a little friend for you to play with."

"What?"

"You didn't listen to me. I told you not to go harassing the werewolves and asking questions. You would have ruined everything."

"What are you talking about?" Cortes snarled. He shook the gate again. "What do you know!?"

"I already knew about that Sphere base, for one. Yes, and that that was where the werewolves came from. We have an arrangement. The scientist that works there is allowed to take subjects as needed. I didn't tell the villagers, and stopped them from asking questions. In return, we pay less tax. We don't have many Seijin children, and they are normally left alone."

"You're condoning this!?"

"No, it's just the way things are. The good of the many, Cortes. I'm sure you can understand. Besides, they would just take them anyway. This way, my people can live a better life."

"Then why don't you tell them!?" Cortes snarled. He answered his own question. "You don't because you know this is wrong. This isn't helping your people!"

"And how would you know!? You've been here what? Three days? Don't think you know better…"

There was a crash from somewhere within the garden.

"What was that!?" exclaimed Mahad.

Julian pulled a hand out of his pocket, holding a remote. "That would be your little friend." He pushed a button. "And she's heading this way." He smiled, and turned around.

"This doesn't help anybody…" Cortes snarled again at his back.

"Despite what you think you know, it does," Julian snapped. "This helps my people. They don't need you telling them all this, they'll try to fight against it, and that'll just get them hurt."

"Julian…"

"I suggest that you run… I really wish I didn't have to do this, Cortes. But you wouldn't listen to me." He shook his head, then turned and walked away without looking back.

Cortes slammed the gate one more time.

"Cortes…" said Dahlia. She had her laser bow out, and was pointing it at the bushes. "Something _is_ in here…"

Christophe stepped past Cortes, and tested the gate himself. "I don't think we're getting out this way. Perhaps we'd better take his advice…"

"Alright…" growled Cortes, he pulled out a gun. "Dahlia, you and Christophe go first. Try and find a way out of here. I'll come behind you. Move away from that thing… it's making a lot of noise…"

Dahlia nodded, and headed off, bow drawn.

Christophe decided he'd better do as his brother asked for now.

"Hey, Lena?" Mahad asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you use your Seijin powers in here? It's pretty dark under all the bush…"

"Um…" Lena lifted up her arms. They sparkled ever so slightly. "I'm not sure; it'll depend where we're standing…"

"Alright…" Mahad nodded. He mentally prepared himself, as yet, unsure exactly how to trigger a transformation. _I'll wait for this thing to show itself first. There's no sense in scaring Lena._ He slowed down ever so slightly, letting Lena get in front of him where he could see her.

"It's a little more open here…" said Dahlia.

The pirates walked into what could have been the central part of the garden. It was overgrown, and it was still difficult for light to get in. But the floor was clear of plants, save a few loose leaves, in a circular area of about twenty feet. In the middle was a broken, empty birdbath.

"It might make more sense to look for the wall…" Christophe started.

Something crashed.

Everyone froze.

"Where is it?" Cortes growled, pulling up his gun, and pointing it in the rough direction of the sound.

Christophe came and stood beside him, his own gun drawn and ready, but still pointing at the ground. "That sounded closer…"

It was quiet, and then there was a loud stomp from slightly to the left of where they were all looking. Everyone started and looked.

"Nessie?" said Cortes, lowering his gun.

"Defence machine!?" Christophe lifted his gun and squeezed off a shot into the machine's chest.

The creature which had only just emerged from the bushes screeched as it stumbled backwards.

"Nessie _is_ a defence machine!" Mahad shouted. "We've got to run!"

"Go!" Cortes shouted, turning Mahad's suggestion into an order. "Find a wall, but don't get cornered!" He put another shot into the machine's chest, pushing it back a little again. It didn't hurt it much though, and it seemed to be learning how to take the hits. Nessie hadn't got to fulfil its design purpose in awhile.

"Come on!" Christophe said, grabbing his brother's shoulder. "She'll learn; she'll get faster…"

The two turned to run as the machine regained its footing, and opened its mouth wide, a small flame building at the tip of its lips.

Christophe's eyes widened. "Go!"

They just managed to get to the other side of the clearing as a spurt of flame erupted from the machine's mouth, chasing behind them to just a few feet short of the clearing's edge.

"That was close!" said Christophe as they continued to run after Dahlia, Mahad and Lena. "But who's idea was it to call it 'Nessie'?"

Cortes' breath chugged in and out. He was kicking himself for listening to Julian. He'd put everyone in danger. He should have known better. "Shut up, Christophe."

Before Christophe could reply, they came to Dahlia, Mahad and Lena up against one of the garden's walls.

"It's lower here if we climb on this rock!" Dahlia shouted, pointing at a large flat stone just below the wall. There were branches higher up, but not much vines or handholds along the wall.

"It's still too high…" growled Cortes, quickly looking over his shoulder.

There was crashing again. Nessie had slowed again in the thicker brush.

"Not for me…" muttered Mahad. "If I get up there, I can help you guys get over…"

"How're you going to…" Cortes trailed off, because already Mahad had started a transformation.

Lena stepped back and gasped, bumping up against Dahlia.

Mahad completed his transformation, and ended up tipping over to all fours, his whole body shaking.

"Mahad…" said Lena, tentatively creeping up beside her older brother. She was still just a little bit too scared to touch him.

"I'm alright…" said Mahad, straightening up. "Now, let's get out of here." He took a running leap at the wall, altogether avoiding the rock Dahlia had pointed out. He hit two thirds up, scrabbled for a grip, then found it, before pulling himself up to sit on the top. "Alright, who's next?"

"Help them…" said Cortes to Christophe, keeping his gun trained on the shaking bushes. Dahlia and Lena would still have trouble getting up.

Christophe leapt up on the flat rock, and then held out a hand to Lena. "Alright, you first."

Lena stepped up next to him; Christophe grabbed her up, and lifted her as far as he could.

Mahad managed to hook, carefully, a few claws into the back of her shirt. "Toss her up a bit…"

"Toss me… woah!"

Mahad got a better grip, and pulled her up next to him. "Can you get down the other side?"

"Yeah…"

He turned back to look over the wall. Dahlia had already climbed up to Christophe and he was lifting her up. Mahad reached down.

"Need another boost…?" Christophe asked.

"No, I got it…" Dahlia planted a foot on Christophe's shoulder, kicking off him to reach Mahad.

"No problem, then," Christophe muttered, regaining his balance. He turned around. "Aran! Hurry up, she's coming!" He could already see the machine through the bushes. She was slashing them down with the sharp pincers on her back, and getting closer quickly. Soon, those sharp pieces of metal could be slicing through both of them.

"Get over the wall!" Cortes shouted back. His gun whined as he powered it up again.

Christophe growled, and climbed down from the rock. "This isn't the time for heroics…"

"I _said_, get over the wall!" Cortes snarled, whirling around so his powered up gun faced Christophe.

Christophe stepped back. He didn't think his brother would shoot him. He was more worried that pointing the gun at him meant it wasn't pointing at the machine. "You come right after me!" he growled, turning and throwing himself at the wall before he'd finished speaking. _I'm supposed to be the crazy one…_ He scrabbled for a grip.

"You need to be higher…" said Mahad, reaching down.

Christophe kicked a boot into the surface of the wall. It caught, and he pushed himself upwards.

Mahad clawed into his shirt sleeves.

"Pull me up!"

"Get higher… I might scratch…"

"Now!"

Mahad growled, making him seem even more of an animal. He gripped on harder, and dragged Christophe up.

Christophe felt the claws slice through his shirt sleeves and into his arm, but he ignored it. He had other things to worry about. He got to the top of the wall, and then turned around. "Aran!"

Cortes stared into the face of the machine that towered over him. It had made it through the last bit of brush, and stopped, staring down at him.

"Aran!"

His brother's shout broke through his stupor. He squeezed the trigger of his gun. Then turned and ran, not even waiting to see the machine stagger back. He hit the wall, and then heard something right behind him. He looked over his shoulder.

It was right there, mouth open…

Cortes dropped from the wall, just missing landing on the flat stone, and crushed himself down as a blast of flame impacted the wall where he'd been seconds before. Bush exploded into flame. He got up, pinpointed the position of the machine, then turned and ran back into the thick of the garden. He could no longer get out the way everyone else had.

Mahad pushed Christophe towards the other side of the wall. "Go on, get down…"

"I am not leaving here without my brother," Christophe growled, staring back hard at Mahad. "You saw those machines back at the base! That thing will kill him; I don't care how fuzzy its nickname sounds!"

Mahad nodded. "You're right. I might be able to break it though." He heaved himself back into the garden.

"Dahlia, Lena!" Christophe called down, "try and find a way out from the outside!" With that, he swung his legs back over the wall and slid down after Mahad. "You don't think I'm going to let you go alone?" he said to Mahad's stare.

"You won't be able to hurt it…"

"Watch me."


	11. Chapter 11

Cortes skidded to a halt as he came to the clearing in the centre of the garden again. Would it be stupid to get caught up against a wall again? He turned back to the direction he'd just come from, and lifted his gun. "Where are you?"

Surprisingly, and disturbingly, the machine had stopped making noise.

"Hello?!" Cortes called out. He didn't expect the machine to reply. But surely one of his crew had come back for him? He gritted his teeth and mentally condemned the thought. They didn't need to be brought into this to get hurt; he could handle it. He just needed to know where…

There was a crash from his left, and Cortes spun around, bringing up his gun.

A wall of metal crashed into Cortes, throwing him to the ground. Metal claws pinned down his shoulders and dug into his skin and muscles. One of the machine's heavy metal feet just missed crushing through his pelvis. The pincers on the machine's back snapped downwards, intending to grab and crush whatever they clasped. These came to bear on Cortes' gun, which he held in front of himself, trying desperately to protect his body.

Cortes drew in shaking breaths, trying to hold the machine back. It was too strong.

He let it force the gun downwards, and slipped out from under her, ignoring the pain as the machine's claws tore out of the skin on his shoulders.

Nessie moved before he could get out from under her, knocking him back down. Again, he barely missed being stepped on.

Nessie spun, trying to locate him.

Cortes slipped out from under her legs, ducking under the heavy swinging tail. He needed another weapon; she had crushed his gun.

His eyes fell on the bird bath in the middle of the clearing. It was the only thing beside loose leaves. He ran to it, and heaved against it. Despite its worn appearance, it was almost impossible to move.

Cortes tried once more, and then glanced over his shoulder. Nessie was right _there_! He tried to spin back to face her, but she threw herself against him. Claws scraped at his back, pushing him forwards and down. He crashed into the birdbath, and this time it broke free of the ground, partly turning to powder as it and the Saint Nazaire's captain crashed into the ground under the machine's weight.

Cortes rolled himself over, trying to see through the dust. Nessie hadn't come down with him; she probably needed to stay upright. Cortes blinked through the dust and pain.

A head darted down, searching for him.

Cortes froze, staring into red unblinking eyes.

Nessie opened her mouth.

"No!" Cortes forced himself upwards and slammed the machine's mouth shut. It had not been designed with teeth, and the mechanics of the jaw were weak. Cortes just managed to force it shut.

The metal heated under his hands. Cortes shuddered and kept holding on.

Suddenly Nessie shook, and a burst of flame came from the side of her neck. The system had backed up, but her internal computer recognised this, and shut down the source of the flames before they could spread.

Nessie took a step back. Her head now flopped uselessly from halfway down her neck, and she leaked petrol.

Cortes drew his hands back with a yell. The pain of the burns momentarily almost blocked out the pain from the slices to his body. His clothing was in tatters and his skin underneath torn and bleeding. A part of his mind knew he might soon go into shock. He had to stop Nessie before then. He lashed out; swinging a fist into the machine's lolling head.

The head flopped around, and some circuitry sparked. Nessie lunged forward, but she seemed unable to exactly pinpoint him.

Cortes took a step back. _That won't work. You've got to think…_ He picked up a rock, and threw it at a part of the machine's body that looked important. _What am I supposed to break?!_

Nessie stepped forward again, and swiped a clawed hand at Cortes.

It barely missed, and Cortes nearly stumbled over as he stepped back. _Run!_ His mind knew this was the best course of action, but his body wouldn't respond. Nessie would soon work out where he stood.

"Aran!"

Cortes spun around, just in time to see his brother running into the clearing, followed by a larger crashing shape he couldn't yet make out.

A light on Nessie's damaged head flashed, acknowledging an audio pick up; she turned towards it.

"Christophe?" Cortes turned halfway. He was starting to shake.

The light on Nessie flashed again, pinpointing a closer target. Her undamaged central computer, located in the middle top of her back, calculated an exact trajectory and best mode of attack. The machine planted a foot firmly in the dirt, then spun, her tail arcing out and around her body, the heavy, spiked weight on the end swinging right for Cortes.

"ARAN!" Christophe shouted again, his eyes going wide.

It made no difference. Nessie's heavy metal tail slammed into the centre of Cortes' chest with an audible crack, tossing him roughly to the ground. His body rolled a few times before coming to rest.

Christophe ran to his brother and dropped to his knees beside him. "Aran…?!" He shook his brother's shoulder, but he didn't respond. Was he even breathing?

Nessie stomped closer.

Christophe started, then stood up and stepped over his brother's still body. "Back OFF!" He snarled, wishing he could tear the machine apart with his bare hands, but still thinking clearly enough to be aware this was impossible.

Mahad crashed into the clearing. Christophe had ran ahead of him and he'd found it difficult to keep up through the thick brush with his larger body. He took notice of Cortes on the ground. Then looked up at Nessie. She didn't scare him; he'd smashed apart these things before. Mahad didn't hesitate as he gathered himself, and threw himself into the machine's body. Claws, teeth, he dug them both into the machine's body until it lay twitching, dismembered, and no longer a threat on the garden's floor.

----

"This garden is ridiculous!" Dahlia growled. "The wall's impossible… and I haven't seen another gate…"

"Wait!" said Lena. "We don't need a gate…" She stopped, lifted her arms and gathered in sunlight. Forming a ball or Seijin energy, she flung it at the nearest wall. The brick exploded, showering the two in powder and small stones.

"Careful!" Dahlia exclaimed, covering her head. She hadn't suggested doing just that, because they didn't know where Cortes, Mahad, and Christophe were inside. Lena could have hurt them. Still, it was done now, and had been getting to the point where they probably needed to try something drastic.

Dahlia waited for the dust to settle just a little, then climbed up over the left over rubble, and peered in. "Alright, I don't see anyone. Let's try to find them, but be careful you can't use your…"

Lena climbed up the rubble next to her, and then climbed down the other side. "Mahad might need help…"

"… powers under all the bush…" Dahlia growled, following Lena as quickly as she could.

----

Nearly back to his plush office, Julian heard the explosion. He ran to a window, peering outside just in time to see the dust cloud rising from the side of the garden. "Damn it…" he muttered.

His secretary rushed up next to him at the window. "Good heavens! What was that?"

"The pirates…" Julian growled. His mind switched into gear. His plan hadn't worked, he would have to compensate. "They're not trying to help us… they just threatened me. And I can bet they've just caused that explosion. Call Jack and his men right away, Martha. Get them to meet me down at the old garden as soon as they can."

----

Dahlia had caught up to Lena just before they reached the central clearing. She placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder to remind her to be careful. They didn't know what they were running into, but that didn't seem to be slowing Lena any.

She halted suddenly though, and Dahlia nearly ran into her back. The machine that had attacked them lay inert on the ground and in flames. Mahad stood next to it, panting, human, and amidst a pile of dark fur.

"Mahad!" Lena ran up to him and threw her arms around him.

"Hey…"

Dahlia glanced at Mahad for a second, but then her eyes quickly fell over on Cortes and Christophe.

Christophe gripped his brother's shoulders, and shook them. "Aran…?!"

There was no response. The man's jacket was bloodied and torn, and he was unconscious.

"Christophe…" said Dahlia, kneeling beside him. "What happened?!"

"That!" Christophe snarled, pointing a finger in the direction of the burning machine, all without taking his eyes off his brother.

Mahad and Lena had now turned their attention to their Captain also. They didn't know how to help though, and simply stood at a distance.

"He's not breathing… and I don't think he has… a pulse…" Christophe let Cortes drop carefully onto his back on the floor, and tore at the already ripped jacket, pulling the material away from his brother's chest.

"Do you need any…?"

"No!" Christophe cut off Dahlia. He started pushing on Cortes' chest, trying desperately to get his heart started again. "… eight, nine…" Christophe knew the impact from the machine's tail had already snapped ribs, for all he knew he was shredding his brother's lungs with broken bone. _It's alright… you're supposed to break bones to perform CPR, aren't you?_

Suddenly, Cortes shuddered and drew in a gasp of air.

"Aran!" Christophe exclaimed.

Cortes responding with a fit of coughing, spitting up flecks of blood and grasping onto the nearest thing, which just happened to be Christophe.

"It's okay…" said Christophe. He pulled him up off the ground and held him close. "It's okay, just breathe…"

Even just breathing seemed to cause Cortes a great a deal of difficulty.

Dahlia reached out a hand to touch her Captain's shoulder, but then drew it back, thinking better of it as she saw his skin was torn there too. "We need to get him to the hospital…"

"Are you kidding?" exclaimed Mahad. "They didn't let Cheng in last time. What makes you think they'll let Cortes in now?"

"They have to…" Dahlia growled. "I don't know if the Vector can fix this. Besides," she reached for her laser bow, "I have this. I'll _make_ them let us in."

"But then he'll be okay, right?" Lena asked, hanging ever so slightly behind Mahad.

"I'm… fine…" Cortes spluttered.

"Hey, keep quiet…" Christophe ordered.

"Cheng…"

Christophe sighed. "… will be fine. Right now, we have to worry about you."

----

Wayan pulled back around the corner of the wall and drew in a sharp breath. He'd followed and located Cortes and the rest of the crew just after they'd left the mayor's office. He'd followed them down, and overhead everything the mayor had told Cortes.

Watching – or at least hearing – what had ensued in the garden, had shaken him. But at least now he knew what was going on. He would go out to where the Sphere had their base, find whoever was responsible, and make them change him back.

But first, he wanted to make sure everyone else was okay. What _had_ been in that garden?

Wayan crept over the rubble of the wall Lena had destroyed, and made his way cautiously though the thick bushes. He didn't know what was in there, nor did he want any of the crew to see him.

Within a moment, he had come to the clearing in the centre.

"Damn…" Wayan growled, drawing a breath in through his teeth.

A quick look around proved that what Wayan assumed was the creature had been destroyed. A pile of smoking, twisted metal lay a few feet away. But Cortes was hurt, probably quite badly.

For a moment, Wayan was overcome with the urge to step out from the bushes. But then he remembered why he had to stay hidden.

He gritted his teeth, and drew back deeper into the bushes. Dahlia was with Cortes. As was Mahad and Lena. And, for some reason, Christophe had turned up. They would have to look after him.

Wayan suspected that would be their first priority. It was up to him to take care of the werewolf stuff, and stop whoever was behind it.

With that thought, he took one last look at Cortes and the rest of the crew, then turned and headed out of the garden.

He had to do this himself.

Wayan never looked back, but perhaps if he had, he would have realised that the pirates were about to need help.

----

"Come on," said Christophe, trying to pull Cortes closer to him. "We need to get him out of here…"

"Alright, everyone get your hands up!"

The pirates whirled around.

Jack and Daniel, the two policemen, stood there along with Julian. They both had guns raised in front of them.

"Hey, wait a minute…!" Dahlia growled. She swung her own weapon up.

Lena's hand's lit up with Seijin energy.

"Alright, just take it easy…" said Daniel, taking a half step backwards as he saw the girl's body start to glow. He didn't really want to be thrown into a wall again.

"Come on, arrest them!" Julian shouted. "I told you, they tried to attack me; that's why I had to set the garbage 'bot on them… and look what happened to her!"

"That's not true!" shouted Lena. "We did nothing! You set that monster on us for no reason!"

"Such a pity…" said Julian. "Teaching you to lie like that at such a young age…"

"What!?" said Lena, her mouth hanging open.

"There's no need for an argument…" said Jack, trying to keep his voice steady. "Now, whatever happened here your Captain's hurt… I think he needs a hospital…"

"First thing here someone's said that makes sense…" Christophe growled, continuing to clutch his semi-conscious brother to his chest.

"Didn't you hear me?!" Julian snapped. "Whatever happened to him was his own fault. I want you to arrest them. Put them somewhere where they can't hurt anyone else!"

Jack glanced back at the mayor, and then threw a look at his colleague. "Daniel, I think we'd better get them in the transport. Get them away from here and someplace safe so they don't cause the mayor anymore trouble…"

Daniel nodded slowly.

"He _needs_ a hospital!" Christophe snarled. What was wrong with the people on this bloc!?

"He's right," Mahad growled. "I really think you should listen to us…" His body was starting to tense. He could feel the power from the spliced werewolf virus building inside him. He wasn't sure whether he should let it out.

"Careful, Mahad…" said Dahlia, throwing a glance over at him. She turned back to the policemen. "Look, he really does need help…"

"Perhaps he should have thought of that before he came here, sticking his nose where it didn't…" said Julian.

"Will you just _shut up_!?" snapped Christophe. If he hadn't been protecting Cortes, he felt he would have got up then and there and sent Julian flying. Never mind the guns trained on him and the other pirates.

"Listen to me," Jack growled, his voice loud as he tried to take control of the situation. "You're dangerous; we have to arrest you. It's our job; we have to protect our bloc. Now your Captain isn't going to get far without some medical help, so I suggest you come with us. We'll help him, but you have to cooperate."

"Provided," Julian growled, "you keep them locked up. All of them."

"We do know how to do our job, sir," Daniel growled.

"You be careful…"

"What do you say!?" shouted Jack, eager to drown out any further discussion between the mayor and Daniel. "Are you going to come quietly?"

Mahad and Lena both exchanged looks. Each of them seemed tense and ready to attack. They just weren't sure if it was the best course of action.

Behind them, Christophe stood up. He had Cortes in his arms. "We'll come," he said.

"But…" started Lena.

"We don't really have a choice…" explained Dahlia, lowering her laser bow.

"It's about time…" Julian sighed.

Christophe glared at him hard.

"Alright," Jack sighed, lowering his weapon. Daniel had the pirates covered. "Follow us. We're taking you to our prisoner transport. And no funny business."

The pirates followed the policeman, ushered along by only a single charged gun. It wasn't really the gun that kept them there.

Cortes half opened his eyes, and was only partially aware of what was going on. He only knew that it was his fault. He hadn't been strong enough to protect his crew. Or to get Cheng back. On that thought, and overcome by exhaustion, he let his eyelids slip shut.

At least he could still feel that Christophe had him.

----

Wayan dashed into the cargo bay of the Saint Nazaire. He'd barely got past the repair station's engineers. They had been trying to tell him something about finishing the work on the ship's engines, and possibly something about payment. Wayan had shouted he'd get back to them.

He skidded to a halt next to one of the Mosquitoes, and found and pressed the release on the small ship to open the hatch. He would find this Sphere base. It couldn't be difficult.

"I thought I heard your voice…"

Wayan jumped, turning around to catch sight of the Vector. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

The older man sighed. "I'm sorry… Wayan, what are you doing?"

"I just found out!" said Wayan, sounding almost excited. "The werewolf virus… it's something created by the Sphere… they were experimenting… if I can find the base I can stop them. I can make them fix me."

"The Sphere is behind this?" mused the Vector. "Somehow, that doesn't really surprise me. But that means you have to be all the more careful. What are you planning to do, just take off in a Mosquito and fix everything yourself?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes, Wayan. It is. What about the rest of the crew? Don't they know about this? Wouldn't it be a better idea to wait for them to help? Even if this is only a small Sphere base, launching an attack with the Saint Nazaire would be far wiser. Much more so than a single Mosquito…"

"They know, yeah…" Wayan trailed off.

"They're not going to hate you for what happened to you Wayan. You're sick; it's not your fault…"

"It's not that… not entirely. Look, after I overheard… it was what the bloc's mayor told them. Cortes got hurt. I don't think everyone else is going to have time for this…"

"What happened to him, Wayan? You should have stayed and helped…"

"He's got plenty of help!" Wayan almost shouted. Then he calmed down. "They don't need me. I've got to fix my own problem. They can worry about Cortes; they shouldn't have to worry about me…"

"Wayan, this will just cause more trouble. It won't hurt to wait, and we should check on Cortes. Where is he?"

"I don't know…" Wayan growled, suddenly feeling guilty. "Look, Vector. I have to do this. I've already hurt Cheng; I don't want to hurt anyone else. I have to fix it. That's what I'm going to do, and you can't stop me."

The Vector sighed. "No, I guess not…"

"I'm sorry, really…" With that, he opened the hatch to the Mosquito, and climbed inside.

"Wayan. Just promise me one thing?"

Wayan activated a few of the Mosquitoes controls, then looked at up. "Yeah…?"

"Be careful. And as soon as you find anything out, radio back? I hope by then I can find out if Cortes is okay. And perhaps more to help you. This isn't something you should have to do alone."

Wayan smiled. "That's two things. But alright, I promise."

"Good…"

Wayan shut the hatch to the Mosquito. The Vector stepped back as the small ship dropped from the roof, stabilised itself in its own artificial gravitational field, and then jetted out the Saint Nazaire's open hatch.


	12. Chapter 12

Christophe stared at the rust stain across the other side of the vehicle. It was a fixed point. Well, almost. The transport vehicle was jerking around as it moved, and it was all Christophe could do to keep his brother comfortable. Staring at the spot gave him something to focus on, and he needed it to keep him from freaking out.

The policemen had shoved all of the pirates into the dark enclosure in the back of their vehicle, and then they'd started moving. Christophe had no idea where they were now. None of them did. They'd had their weapons confiscated, and now their only defence would be Mahad's strength, or his younger sister's Seijin powers. And yet they couldn't use them, and hadn't, because of the promise of help for Cortes.

Christophe was suddenly beginning to doubt they would get that. As soon as they made the mistake of letting him out of here…

The vehicle jerked to a stop, there was the sound of one its other doors slamming, and then the door to the enclosure opened. Light streamed in through the open doors, and the pirates had to squint.

All Christophe's thoughts of fighting his way out vanished as he once again realised he still had Cortes in his arms, and had to look out for him.

"You can get out now if you'd like. Just behave yourselves alright?" The policeman named Jack stood at the vehicle's doors.

"Where are we?" Dahlia asked. No one was prepared to exit just yet. They didn't know what was out there, and they were all more worried about Cortes than getting some fresh air.

"We're at the hospital…"

Christophe blinked, unsure whether to believe it or not. "Can someone give me a hand here…"

Mahad and Dahlia both jumped up, helping Christophe half assist, half carry Cortes out of the vehicle.

"Look… I'm really sorry about Julian…" Jack started. "I'm not sure what got into him… but I've been talking to Andrew and Lizzie, and some of the other people on the bloc who know what's going on… we think he's hiding something…"

"I'm not really interested in your bloc's politics right now!" Christophe snapped. "Can't you see my brother needs help?! Are you letting us go, or what?"

"I don't believe Julian. I know you didn't attack him… so I'll let your brother stay here, yes. He can't go anywhere anyway; he looks pretty beat up…"

"Alright, then I'm staying with him."

"Jack…" Daniel growled, sidling up beside the other man. "You know we're going against the mayor's orders here. I think something's going on too… but we have to be careful…"

"I know, I know." Jack turned back to Christophe. "I can't just let you all go. Julian will know something is up…"

"I am not leaving my brother…" Christophe growled.

"It's alright…" said Dahlia. "Jack, can you please let Christophe stay here with Cortes? He won't give the game up; he just wants to make sure his brother's okay. We'll all come with you, and we won't cause any trouble, I promise."

Jack nodded slowly. "Alright. I just hope Julian will assume we brought you _all_ back…"

"One more thing…" said Dahlia. "Julian got you guys to lock up a small boy from our ship. Do you know where he is now?"

"Yeah… he's in our cells where we were going to take you. He hasn't been hurt; I promise. He's just a little scared of when it gets dark…"

"Well, there's another reason for us to go with you," nodded Mahad.

"Hey, Aran… did you hear that? We know where Cheng is…" said Christophe gripping onto his brother tighter and shaking him ever so slightly. "Aran…"

"He'll be alright, I'm sure…" said Jack. "Just get him inside."

Daniel had already run up to the hospital's front door, had just knocked, and was now quickly talking to Andrew at the door, pointing back to Cortes.

Andrew's face was grim, but he nodded to the policeman, disappeared back inside the hospital, and then returned with a stretcher floating behind him.

"Get him on there," Andrew said to Christophe.

"How's he look?" Christophe asked.

"Once I get a good look at him, I'll tell you. Now, if you're staying, you can tell me what happened. It might help."

"I still think we're going to get ourselves in trouble with Julian…" Daniel muttered.

"Something's not right, Daniel," said Andrew. "I've suspected that for awhile and I know you have too. Perhaps we're going to _have_ to get ourselves into trouble."

Christophe cleared his throat loudly.

"Okay, give me a hand getting him inside," Andrew said to Christophe. They both guided the stretcher up the hospital steps, and inside.

"I hope he's going to be okay…" said Mahad.

"Yeah, me too," Lena agreed.

"Alright," said Jack. "Get back in the cage you guys. I'm sorry we have to do this, but we can't afford to let Julian get suspicious."

Dahlia nodded. "Fine. But I hope once you get us to your station you'll explain to us _exactly_ what is going on around here."

"I'll explain as much as I know, deal," Jack nodded. "Now get in the cage."

----

"Cheng!"

Cheng was sitting in the corner of his dimly lit cell. The lighting was artificial; no one wanted any moonlight in his cell, so he'd been put in one with no windows. He didn't really mind so much.

It was Lena's voice that made him look up, and the creak of his cell door opening.

"Lena… what are you…" Cheng began, but was cut short as the girl ran up to him and threw her arms around him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine…"

Dahlia and Mahad came in after her, and then the two policemen did as well.

"They didn't…" Dahlia started, then tossed a look over her shoulder at the two men, then decided she didn't care. "… do anything to you, did they?"

Cheng shook his head, and extricated his arms from around Lena, who sat down beside him. "No… they've actually been kind of nice."

"You're _positive_ he can't change in this cell?" Daniel whispered to Jack.

Jack elbowed him, glaring. "You wanted to know what was going on?" he asked.

Dahlia turned back to the two men. "Yes, we do," she said firmly. She paused. "We'll also tell you what we know. It might be useful for both of us."

"Okay." Jack rested his back against the doorway and slid down, and Daniel sat down next to him. Mahad and Dahlia also found a seat.

"As you know this whole trying to avoid the werewolves business has been going on for quite awhile. Generally, it's accepted as fact. But a few of us have grown suspicious. We're sure there's something out there, but not sure the level of fear the Julian instils is warranted. We've tried suggesting finding more out about this threat, but Julian has remained firm. Lately…" he paused for a moment, as if deciding whether to continue sharing or not. "Well, he's been stubborn to the point of resisting completely logical arguments. One might be tempted to think he's resisting for some reason completely removed from the safety of the people of Marquis. We've tried getting Andrew and Lizzie, the bloc's doctors, to talk to him. He respects them more than us. And still nothing. We're more suspicious now then ever. And especially after seeing what happened to day… I highly doubt you pushed him to set that garbage 'bot on you."

"We didn't," said Mahad. "He tricked us into going into that garden, where we couldn't escape, and then he set Nessie on us! He was trying to kill us! If I hadn't…" Mahad paused, not quite yet sure if he should share his supernatural abilities with them. "… we just barely managed to destroy it, and look what it did to Cortes."

"I'm really sorry about your Captain," said Jack.

"We should have known something was up with that machine before," Daniel growled. "I always knew there was no way something with so many sharp edges and a bloody flame thrower was just a garbage 'bot."

"Wait, what happened to Cortes!?" Cheng asked suddenly.

Lena put a hand on his shoulder. "Julian set this machine on us… it hurt him. But he's in the hospital; he's going to be okay…"

"Lizzie and Andrew are _very_ good doctors," said Jack. "He'll be okay, I promise."

Cheng nodded, chewing his lip. He could remember his own pain when the werewolf had torn into him, and he could only imagine if the machine had done something similar to Cortes. He couldn't just heal himself like Cheng had been able to once the virus took affect. Cheng wasn't sure which of them had it worse.

"Okay," said Dahlia, "so you think Julian is hiding something…"

"Yes," said Jack.

"Okay, you're turn," prodded Daniel. "We've told you what we know."

"Well then, we can tell you you're absolutely right," said Dahlia. "Julian is up to something. Last night, we… well, Mahad found a Sphere facility on the other side of your bloc. They're creating the werewolves, and Julian is providing them with subjects."

----

Christophe sat on a bench in the hallway outside the room Cortes was in. The two doctors had let him stay until he explained what had happened, and then chased him outside. Christophe was sure they were perfectly capable of taking care of his brother, and the best place for him probably _was_ outside the room. But that didn't stop him from worrying.

It didn't stop him from thinking either. His mind had quite clearly drawn the logic that he'd assisted Natasha in her endeavours to create the werewolf soldier for the Sphere. That had caused all the trouble on this bloc… and that had all led to his brother getting hurt. Then there was what had happened to Mahad, and Cortes' adopted son. Christophe hadn't even met the boy, yet he almost felt worse for him than for Cortes_. It's not completely your fault… not directly. _Christophe snarled at the thought and pounded a fist into his leg. _Yeah, right. Stop lying to yourself, Christophe. Aran hates you already, how is he going to react when he finds out you helped with something that hurt his kid?_

The door to Cortes' room slid open, and Lizzie stepped out, startling Christophe.

"How is he?" Christophe asked as he stood up.

"It's okay, hun. I think he'll be alright. But he's got several broken ribs, and he's cut up pretty badly. He needs to rest."

Christophe nodded.

"You can go in and see him, but he's sleeping so don't wake him up."

Christophe stepped into the room, pausing in the doorway. Andrew was still by the bedside, hooking something up to a drip. Cortes lay on the bed, completely unconscious, his chest moving up and down as he breathed. His chest and parts of his arms were wrapped in bandages.

"I'll leave you alone," Andrew said, stepping away as he finished with the drip.

"Wait…" Christophe grabbed the man's arm as he stepped past him. "You have to stop this…"

"What…"

"Whatever's going on here… your mayor's in on it too."

Andrew nodded. "We've suspected as much. Don't worry; we _are_ going to do something about this. We should have earlier. Perhaps then your brother and his son wouldn't have gotten hurt… for that we're sorry. But we are going to fix this, I promise you."

"If there's anything I can do to help…" said Christophe.

"We'll let you know," Andrew replied. "Just stay with your brother for now."

Andrew left, walking down the hallway with his wife, leaving Christophe alone with Cortes. Christophe stared at his brother for a moment, and then sat down on the chair at his bedside. He carefully took Cortes' hand. "Aran… it was just business… I was just…" He sighed, and his shoulders drooped. "Little brother, I'm sorry."

----

Wayan hovered in the Mosquito around the rocky outcroppings. The little ships readouts showed there was nothing in the area but rock and hardy plant life. But then, the Mosquito's systems were hardly state of the art, and there was no doubt in his mind that the Sphere base would be well hidden.

"I've got to find it…" Wayan growled. He was sweating, and he wasn't sure if it was from the virus or simply because he was apprehensive. Wayan didn't normally find himself so angry, but he was positive this would be where he would find those who had created the virus that had affected him. Maybe they could fix him. He'd find them, and _make_ them fix him. And then he'd make sure they couldn't harm anyone with their experiments ever again.

"Where are you…" he growled again.

Suddenly, something appeared in front of the Mosquito. Another ship? Wayan tensed, gripping his controls and letting his finger hover over the weapons trigger. The thing in front of him was some sort of machine. It was just a little bit bigger than the Mosquito, like some sort of metal pterodactyl.

Wayan waited, but the machine did not attack. It seemed to stare at him for a moment, its eyes flashing from red to green as its systems ran some sort of scan on the Mosquito. It looked at him for a moment more, and then swooped away.

"What was that about?" Wayan watched the machine fly off. Then his eyes caught on a rocky wall nearby. It was sliding… open? Wayan suddenly realised it was a concealed shipping bay. The flying machine seemed to have been directing his attention to it.

For the briefest of moments, Wayan wondered why he was being let in. But that was what he wanted, he could figure out the details later. With that thought, he guided the small ship downwards and cautiously into the docking bay.

The bay walls were rusting; the place obviously wasn't used much. One of the walls had a large energy burn mark on it which looked fairly fresh, it had cut through the rust and dirt there, and turned the metal wall a shiny purple colour. There were no other ships in the bay, just a few old shipping containers. The place could have been deserted, except for the presence of the blast mark, and the facility opening for him.

Wayan opened the hatch of his Mosquito and stepped out cautiously. He slung his rifle from his shoulder, activated it, and swung it around the bay as he searched. There appeared to be no sign of life anywhere.

At this point, Wayan would normally have decided that whoever, if anyone, was here was waiting for him to walk into a trap. He was sure there would be someone here, waiting for him. But the virus had messed up his life. It'd made him hurt Cheng; it'd made him infect the boy with the very thing that plagued him. It didn't matter what danger he was walking into. He had to try and find a way to set things right. Besides, if they realised he was a werewolf, they'd be scared of taking him on, right?

Wayan took what looked to be the main doorway out of the docking bay, and began to explore. He crept down corridor after corridor. Many of the rooms appeared deserted. Wayan found himself growing more desperate. He knew something was going on here.

Finally, he came across a room that looked like it was being used. It was a laboratory. It was cleaner, and more in use, than the one he and Cortes had explored in the original Sphere base, but the size and layout of the room was similar. Wayan couldn't help but feel this was where all his trouble had begun. He suppressed a shudder, and walked into the room.

"Ah, I see you've found your way, perfect."

Wayan swung around at the sound of the voice. His gun rested on a woman in a lab coat.

"Don't be frightened…" she said with a smile which did anything but alleviate Wayan's fears.

"Who are you?" Wayan growled.

"My name's Natasha," the woman replied. "I'm a Sphere scientist. Well… I was… they'll accept me again when I prove I am right. Something you're going to help me with."

"You know I'm a werewolf," Wayan stated. "That's why you let me in."

"My scout detected you had the virus, yes. I am curious as to how came across it though. You're not a subject I remember and the virus is not just something you come down with."

"I picked it up at your old research station," said Wayan. "Are you behind all this? Did you turn me into this!?"

"Settle down," said Natasha. "How can you blame me? I had no intention of infecting you. Pure random chance, just the same as how you pick up a cold."

"You created this," Wayan snarled, advancing on her with the gun.

"Created, no. Revived, yes, I did."

"You had no right to do that. Look what it's done to me. I attacked a kid. I gave him the virus, and I could have killed him!"

"So what? Now you're going to kill me?"

Wayan stopped advancing, thinking. "No, I want you to fix me. And stop what you're doing here."

"That's a big ask. My life's work is nearly complete. I can't let you stop me."

"I don't care, fix me!" Wayan raised the gun again.

"I thought you weren't going to shoot me?"

"We can wait around until it gets dark and I turn into an uncontrollable monster, if that's what you want," Wayan spat out.

"No. You're no good to me then. Listen to me…."

"Wayan."

"Wayan. Listen to me. There is no cure for the werewolf virus. But I _can_ make it possible for you to control it. My last subject ran away, but before he did I was able to I realise the version I had given him was controllable. This is what I was trying to achieve. I can give you that version of the virus…"

"I think I know who you're talking about," Wayan growled. "Don't pretend like that's any better! I am not going to let you hurt anybody else. I want you to fix me, and if you can't then _find_ a way. And I'm sure as anything not helping you make the Sphere's perfect soldier. Do you think I'm an idiot? You don't want to help me; you just want to finish off your experiment because Mahad ran away!"

"Well, you've just got me all figured out, haven't you?" said Natasha. She looked up, at a point slightly behind Wayan. She nodded.

Wayan started to whirl around, but before he could two spiked metal clamps had grabbed him by the shoulders, holding him in place. Wayan let out a yell, but then bit back on it. It hurt like anything, but knowing his body could heal, it really wasn't that much of a problem.

"Too bad. You're going to help me anyway."

Wayan pulled against the clamps, hissing as he further tore up his flesh. He still couldn't get free. He tried to wring his head around to see what had him.

There was a click of gears, and the head of a metal beast, supported on a long segregated neck, swung around over his shoulder to look Wayan in the eye. The machine opened its mouth, revealing a small flame, and then shut its mouth again with a loud metal clang.

"Just hold him there," said Natasha. No longer threatened by Wayan's gun, she had wandered over to one of the benches and picked up a large syringe. She connected a vial of liquid to it, and then walked back over to Wayan.

Wayan tried to struggle again, but the machine only dug its clamps in harder. "You can…" Wayan gasped. "Do what you want. Make me your perfect soldier. But don't expect me to work for the Sphere or help you!"

Natasha held the needle up in front of him, and smiled. "I've actually got a solution for that…" With that, she plunged the needle deep into his chest.

Wayan jerked, contorted, and then slumped in the machine's grasp.


	13. Chapter 13

Christophe wasn't a man who would normally sit around and do nothing. He had to be doing something, _anything_, or he'd drive himself crazy. Despite that frustration, Christophe found himself unable to tear himself away from his brother's bedside. He sat with his arms folded, leaning against the edge of the mattress. Maybe he had to be busy because if he sat still for long enough, he thought too hard. Like about how maybe some of his little business dealings hadn't taken into account what harm might ultimately come from them. And what had they really accomplished? He still had nothing; he didn't even have a decent ship. He'd blown up the Callisto for his brother, but perhaps that had been the only decent thing he'd done in years.

Christophe sighed, standing up, and wandered over to the room's window. He'd left the rebellion at Ronston because he'd thought it was the right thing to do; that he could do something more by getting on the good side of the Sphere. Perhaps he had been right. But whatever his good intentions had been he'd lost somewhere along the way. His crew knew it, that's why they'd left him, leaving him to pilot, run and maintain the metal behemoth on his own; a ship whose only purpose had been to get the Sphere to trust a man who didn't know what he'd do with that trust once he'd gotten it. Maybe destroying the ship hadn't been such a loss, especially when it saved Aran, and the Saint Nazaire. That ship, the exact same ship as the Callisto, had achieved more than Christophe ever did with his.

He glanced back over his shoulder at Cortes. "You don't deserve this, Aran. I shouldn't have let you bully me into leaving you down in the garden…" he trailed off, because his brother appeared to be waking up. Christophe moved back to the bedside.

Cortes shuddered, and then his eyelids fluttered open.

"Aran…?" Christophe said. He reached out for his brother's hand.

Cortes jerked at the touch, and struggled to pull himself completely awake.

"It's okay… you're safe…" said Christophe, trying to hold Cortes down as gently as he could.

Cortes drew in a ragged breath then locked his gaze with Christophe's. He appeared to be in pain, but that didn't mean his mind wasn't with it. "Where's… my crew…" he gasped, grabbing tightly onto Christophe's arm.

"They're okay…"

"Christophe," Cortes snarled, getting angry as he felt his brother was playing games with him. He gripped even more tightly onto Christophe's arm and started to drag himself into a seated position.

"Aran…" Christophe winced, seeing Cortes' pain, but was smart enough to realise his brother was determined to sit up. He put an arm around Cortes' back, and helped him up.

Cortes shuddered again, and wrapped his arms around his chest.

"You need to take it easy."

"I can't… I need to fix this."

"No, you don't. Your crew's okay, Aran. They arrested them… but I don't think they'll do them any harm. They seemed suspicious of Julian… so did the doctors here. I think they'll help. You don't have to fix this all by yourself, especially if you're hurt."

Cortes squeezed himself tighter. The pain had to dull a little soon. "What about Cheng?"

"He's with your crew. You trust them to be able to look out for him, don't you?"

Cortes didn't answer for a moment. Then he let out a pent up breath.

"You alright?"

"No… Christophe… I'm sorry for being such a jerk earlier."

Christophe blinked, a little surprised at the apology. "Hey… you were stressed about Cheng and everything going on here… don't worry about it…"

"Not just here," said Cortes. He seemed to struggle for a minute, closing his eyes tight briefly before catching himself. "Before when you turned back up again. I shouldn't have been so horrible. And then you blew up the Callisto to save us. I don't hate you; I'm sorry."

"That's not really your fault either…"

Cortes looked like he wanted to say something in reply but he just closed his eyes again.

"Hey, take it easy," said Christophe again. He grasped Cortes gently, in case he needed the support. "You'll be okay, you've just gotta rest."

Cortes just nodded, and let his head rest against Christophe's shoulder. He felt Christophe draw him into a gentle hug, and for a moment, didn't really care.

"Look, Aran," Christophe said after a moment. He released his brother, still keeping an arm around his back for support. "I… I have to apologise too…"

"Sir, you're awake…"

Christophe and Cortes both glanced up. Dahlia was standing there, looking a little surprised to see Cortes awake already.

"Thought you said they'd been arrested?" said Cortes, giving Christophe a look with a hint of distrust.

"We were, Sir," said Dahlia. "But after we talked to the police officers, well, turns out they're pretty suspicious of Julian themselves. What we knew was just enough to convince them that something needed to be done, and soon." She shrugged. "They let us out so we could help."

"Cortes!" Cheng was standing in the doorway. He looked a little shocked to see Cortes hurt, but he soon overcame that, and dashed to his bedside. "Are you okay?" He pushed past Christophe without a second glance and threw his arms around Cortes.

Cortes shuddered under the impact, but gritted his teeth and squeezed Cheng back. "Lad…"

"You okay?" Cheng asked again.

"I am now…"

"Just be gentle with him, he's a little tender…" Christophe smirked.

"I'm fine," Cortes snapped.

Cheng looked at Christophe. "You must be Christophe…"

Christophe smiled. "… you can call me uncle Chris…"

Cortes sighed, but he was trying to hide the slightest smile.

Andrew pushed past Dahlia in the doorway. "You really shouldn't be up," he said to Cortes. "And you lot shouldn't be exciting him."

"I don't feel particularly excited," said Cortes. "But I _would_ like to know what is going on."

"You need to rest."

"I'm fine," Cortes reiterated, trying to stifle the shake in his shoulders.

Andrew looked unconvinced. He paused for a minute, assessing how much he thought Cortes could handle. "We're about to have a meeting to decide what we're going to do. We need to take care of Julian, the werewolves, and whoever's making them. I know you'd like to help, but I don't think you should get up."

"Then get everyone in here," said Cortes. "It's a big room."

Andrew scowled.

"You'll have a hard time keeping him down if he really wants in on this…" said Christophe.

"Alright, I'll see what Lizzie thinks," Andrew replied. "But if I say everyone out, everyone better get out. And I'll sedate you if I have to," he pointed a finger at Cortes.

----

Everyone had gathered in Cortes' hospital room. It was a fair sized room, but with everyone in it was starting to border on cramped. The two police officers were there, Daniel sitting on the windowsill. Lizzie and Andrew stood towards the end of Cortes' bed, preparing to head everything up. Dahlia, Mahad and Lena had found themselves their own spots; Mahad and Lena had seemed glad to see Cortes was doing alright. Cheng and Christophe were both right by Cortes; it was difficult to tell who was being the most protective of Cortes. Cortes, of course, was in his bed.

The deliberation didn't take long, and the two doctors seemed to be trying to keep it short anyway, for Cortes' sake.

Soon, a plan was in place. They would be ready to begin by morning.

----

Julian walked towards Marquis' police station. He almost, though maybe not quite, seemed to have a spring in his step. He was, however, most definitely smiling. The man was positive his pirate problems were almost over.

A night in the police cells, most likely in pain, would probably be plenty enough to convince Cortes to pack up and leave. Once Julian offered the boy back to him, no strings attached, he was most certain they would see the wisdom in leaving and not coming back. Then, Julian would be able to get on with running Marquis, and keeping his people safe.

The mayor strode in through the front doors to the police station, and immediately located the chief of police. "Jack… I want to see the prisoners."

Jack turned around from his inspection of a map of Marquis, pinned to the station's wall. "Julian… I didn't expect to see you here this early." He took a step towards him. "In fact, I was just about to come to see you."

"Well, I'm here now. And I want to see the pirate Captain."

"Cortes?" said Jack. "He's not here…"

"What!?" Julian snapped. "I told you to lock him up! Do you have any idea how much trouble he could cause…"

"In the condition he was in?" said Jack, cutting the mayor short. "We took him to the hospital. You didn't expect us to just throw him the cell, did you? He was badly bleeding; he could have died."

"That would have been his own fault then," said Julian. "Fine, take me to the other prisoners…"

"Julian, stop," said Jack, in such a commanding voice the mayor actually paused, confused. "Julian…" he paused, drawing in a breath. "I'm placing you under arrest."

Julian paused, blinked, opened his mouth, shut it, then opened it again and spoke. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, and I'm sure you know why…"

"No, Jack. I don't know. I don't understand how you could think… or maybe I do. You've been talking to those pirates, haven't you? They're lying to you, Jack. Whatever they've told you isn't true."

"What? Like that you've been secretly plotting with a Sphere scientist to make it easier for her to harvest the people of this bloc for her experiments!" Jack snapped. He took another step towards Julian.

The mayor stepped back. "That's absurd! How could you believe…"

"I've had my suspicions for awhile. So have Andrew and Lizzie; I'm sure other people have as well. What the pirates told me doesn't seem so absurd, and frankly, I'd rather believe what they have to say over any of your excuses."

Julian seemed to realise Jack knew exactly what he was getting at. He didn't just have suspicions, somehow, he knew. "You can't arrest me!" he snapped. "You don't understand! I've been protecting this bloc! Don't you think the Sphere would have taken what they wanted anyway? This way, they only take a few."

"It's wrong, Julian. You held the trust of this bloc… you betrayed that. You let people get taken for experimentation, you let them fear some blown out of proportion monster, you set that freaking mechatronic pet of yours on those pirates to protect yourself and your little Sphere friend… not this bloc!

"You are under arrest for betraying Marquis and for collaborating with the Sphere to harm the people of this bloc."

"You can't do this! You'll regret it!" Julian snarled, taking a step back towards the outside doors. He bumped into something, and turned around to see Daniel staring down at him.

Daniel smiled slightly, his arms folded across his broad chest. He didn't make any movement, but then, it wasn't really necessary for him to.

His escape route cut off, Julian turned back to Jack. "Okay, fine. But I still want to see the pirates…"

"You can't, Julian. They're not here."

"What? Then where are they?"

Jack stepped back towards the map of the bloc on the wall. "In their ship, heading somewhere towards here…" he pointed to a spot on the other end of the bloc, "… I would imagine."

Julian tensed.

"That's where the Sphere's hiding out, isn't it?"

----

"Are you sure you're up to this, Aran?"

"I'm sure," Cortes growled. The words came out scratchy and course. Cortes was finding it a little hard to breath, and was trying to keep his sentences short. After they'd snuck back to the Saint Nazaire, thankfully in the police transport, which had required little physical effort, but more bouncing around than Cortes felt comfortable with, Cortes had gone to his cabin to change. His original outfit had been torn to shreds by Nessie, and the clothes Lizzie and Andrew had lent him just hadn't been his style. That and Andrew had been giving him a funny look over the jacket Lizzie had given him. Cortes suspected it was his; he was sure he'd heard Andrew say "but I still wear it!" to his wife. He'd decided he'd better return it.

At the moment though, he really wasn't sure why he had bothered. Getting changed again had almost proved too painful to be worth the effort.

"Here…" Christophe helped him into his jacket.

Cortes let him, because he was pretty sure it'd hurt more if he tried to shrug it on himself. The amount of time Christophe was spending trying to straighten the collar though was a bit much. "It's fine, okay?" Cortes snapped.

"Sorry…"

Cortes sighed. "Forget it… thanks…"

"Just want to make sure my little brother's okay…" Christophe said with a slight smirk.

They made their way up to the bridge. Dahlia was at the forward controls, flying the Saint Nazaire by herself. The Vector was speaking with Lena and Mahad.

Cheng was swinging on the chair at the centre console. He had turned into a werewolf again last night, but they'd taken him back to the prison cells before it had occurred. He now seemed fine, and at least not frightened that he would un-expectantly change form. Cortes had fallen straight asleep after their meeting, and hadn't awakened until morning. He almost felt guiltily glad that he'd had that excuse not to have to watch Cheng change again.

"Cortes!" Mahad shouted when he saw him enter the bridge. He was grinning. "Guess what? The Vector thinks he knows where Wayan is!"

Cortes blinked. "What?"

"He was here last night, Cortes," the Vector explained. "He said he was going to find where they were making the werewolves. He could very well be where we're going…"

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier!?" Cortes snapped, then drew in a sharp breath. Another sentence that was too long for him to handle.

"Easy…" said Christophe, putting a hand against his back.

Cortes blinked rapidly as the bridge blurred in front of him, and then came back into focus.

"That's why…" said the Vector, sounding a little concerned.

"I'm fine," Cortes said slowly. "Alright?"

"Maybe you should just sit down…" suggested Christophe.

Cortes went and sat in the Captain's chair. He didn't want to appear weak to his crew, but at least there he couldn't really pass out there. "How long until we get there?" he asked once he'd caught his breath.

"Should be about another twenty minutes," said Dahlia. "We'll be in the general area, and then Mahad and Christophe can show us exactly where."

Christophe felt his brother looking at him, and tried to look away. Of course, that feeling could've just been a guilty conscience.

"Good…" was all Cortes said.

----

Julian paced the cell, frustrated. Once the rest of the bloc found out what the police officers were doing, they'd be in for it. Then he'd just get new ones, ones that showed him some respect.

Right now, he was being watched by Andre. The man sat in a chair, rocked back on its two hind feet to rest against a wall. He appeared bored and, as usual, probably wasn't even completely sober.

"Just what do they think they're doing to me?" Julian demanded. He didn't really expect an answer.

Andre looked at him, and then shrugged.

"Don't you realise, they're going to make everything worse…"

Andre appeared to be bored, but Julian, confident in his ability to read people, was sure he was listening just a bit.

"… they'll just bring more _werewolves_…" he shook his head, pausing for affect. "They'll just hurt more people…"

Andre heard that. He rocked forward on his chair. "Werewolves?"

"Didn't the other officers tell you?" Julian asked.

Andre smiled ever so slightly, and shrugged, gesturing down at his dishevelled appearance. "Do you blame them?"

"Yes! They know you'd disagree… after what happened to your daughter…"

"Don't talk about her," Andre snarled, leaning forward as his eyes narrowed.

"They're working with the Sphere, Andre," said Julian. "The other officers, Andrew and Lizzie…"

"They wouldn't…"

"Other families might loose their children to this… Andre, I can stop this. You have to let me out of here."

----

"The entrance should be somewhere around here…" said Christophe. He stood over the edge of Dahlia's chair, looking intently out the forward windows.

Mahad stood behind him, also trying to pinpoint the location of the hidden entrance. "Are you sure it's not a little to the left…?"

"We've got company!" said Dahlia suddenly.

Three of the metal flying machines had just appeared, seemingly out of the solid rock wall.

"I'd say we've got the right place," said Christophe.

The Saint Nazaire banked, and the machines slid past beside the big ship.

"Are those things a threat to us?" Cortes asked. They had seemed to disappear without attack, and they _had_ been quite small.

Mahad turned around and stared at Cortes hard. "One of those things _ate_ me!"

Suddenly two of them appeared again, on the other side of the Saint Nazaire, flying straight towards the bridge's windows. Then one shot out a harpoon. The forward windows shattered, and the harpoon embedded in the wheelhouse, right above Dahlia's head, and next to Christophe's shoulder.

The Saint Nazaire tilted to the side, more so from the reaction of the pilot than any damage the harpoon had caused. The machine was dragged downwards, and smashed into the deck. The chain that held it to the harpoon shattered another window.

Mahad grabbed the harpoon, tearing it out of the bulkhead with an inhuman strength, and then let it clatter back outside. It slid off the side of the ship, along with the machine, as the Saint Nazaire righted itself.

"Is everyone… alright?" Cortes asked, sounding a little short of breath. He was gripping the edges of his Captain's chair, knuckles almost white.

"Yeah… I think so…" said Dahlia, still a little shocked.

"We're fine back here," said the Vector.

"Where've the others gone?" Mahad asked, hanging his head out the broken forward windows.

"Are _you_ alright, Aran?" Christophe asked, bounding back up the stairs to the base of the Captain's chair.

"You don't need to keep asking that," said Cortes. Even so, he was digging in his pocket and pulled out a small container of pain killers Lizzie had given him. He'd been trying to avoid taking them, thinking they'd mess with his head, but the pain was starting to mess with it more then he thought the drugs would. It didn't help when his crew kept jerking the ship around.

Christophe watched his brother for a moment more as he downed a couple pills, looking concerned, but didn't say anything.

"It's back!" shouted Cheng.

A machine whizzed past the window.

"I'll get it," said Mahad, his eyes narrowing. He ran up the stairs, heading for the bridge door. His body was already starting to change.

"Mahad, don't go out there…" Cortes warned.

"Hey," Mahad shrugged, now completely a werewolf. "What can it do to me? Besides, I've got a few things to settle with it…"

"It could drop you off the damn ship!" Cortes snapped after him, and then coughed.

"Let him go…" said Christophe.

The flying machine looped back around, then sighted Mahad out on the deck. It headed straight for him.

Mahad hurled himself at it, leaping off the deck, and tackled the machine in mid air. He dug his claws in, suddenly doubting himself just a little bit. The machine swerved, smart enough to realise something was holding it back, but not quite smart enough to realise how to get rid of it. It banked sharply towards the cliff, and then righted itself. Its systems eventually decided something was wrong, and it needed repair. The machine twisted to the side, and then disappeared into a small hole in the cliff face, clipping the edge of the entryway as it did.

On board the Saint Nazaire, all was quiet again. The crew waited for any of the machines to reappear.

"Now what do we do?" Cheng asked.

"Yeah, let him go…" Cortes muttered. "Come on, Christophe. You've been here before, how do we get inside?"


	14. Chapter 14

"I thought I told you to keep an eye on Julian?" Daniel, in the front office of the police station, swung around as he heard his colleague enter the room. Only it wasn't Andre.

A blast of energy smashed into Daniel's chest, and he slipped to the floor.

"Hey!" Andre said as he came out of the cells behind Julian.

"Relax, it's only on heavy stun," said Julian, slipping the gun he held back into his belt. "He deserves more… but we'll deal with them properly once we sort out this whole mess. Come on. I need to find Andrew and Lizzie, and talk some sense into them…"

The mayor marched out the front doors of the police station, without a backward glance.

Andre glanced at Daniel's crumpled body for a moment, and then decided he'd better follow Julian. Daniel was tough; he'd be fine. And if he was completely honest with himself, a part of Andre thought he should keep an eye on Marquis' mayor. Something, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it, wasn't quite right.

----

"I'm sure that's the doorway…" said Christophe. "See that crack there? I don't think it's natural."

"How does it open though?" asked Lena.

"As far as I know?" said Christophe. "From inside."

Cortes thought for a moment. "Let's try shooting at it…"

"Cortes," said the Vector. "We really don't know what that will do, if anything…"

"I feel like shooting something," Cortes muttered. He wouldn't admit the Vector was probably right. Maybe the pain killers _were_ messing with his head. At least the pain wasn't so bad now he couldn't concentrate, or couldn't string together a complete sentence without choking on it.

"Might work…" said Christophe.

At that moment, the crack Christophe had indicated seemed to vibrate, and then it started to open wider.

The whole crew tensed.

"Dahlia…" said Cortes.

"Weapons are charged and ready, Sir," Dahlia replied.

Cortes nodded, and then forced himself to stand up. He stepped forward and gripped the ship's wheel. He wanted to be ready.

The opening to the bay gaped wider. Everyone waited to see what it would reveal. The doors stopped, and there was nothing but the empty docking bay. And then Mahad stepped out from beside the bay doors and waved wildly.

Lena waved back.

"Well," said Christophe, "I guess we just open them from the inside…"

The Saint Nazaire moved forward slowly towards the docking bay. It was small doorway, but would probably have enough room for the Saint Nazaire to drop her ramp.

Mahad moved closer to the ship, keeping an eye on the inside of the dock. He must have encountered no threats as yet, because he remained in his human form.

----

Natasha looked up from her work bench. The screen beside her was indicating an unauthorised access to the docking bay. The sensors were also picking up a large ship outside.

The woman frowned. This could cause real trouble. She activated the base's defence machines, and relayed an order for them to go to the docking bay.

"I'm guessing… friends of yours?" she addressed the semi-conscious body that hung on an apparatus in front of her.

Wayan was stripped to the waist and had various tubes and needles stuck into his body. He was currently still in human form, but Natasha had it very much in mind to coax the virus into changing him. He seemed to look at her for a brief second, and then his eyes rolled back up. It was impossible for him to go anywhere, and whatever Natasha had given him kept him immobile anyway.

"Just relax," she said. "We'll have this worked out any minute… and maybe then, I'll let you go see your friends."

----

Christophe, Lena and Dahlia had disembarked from the Saint Nazaire. Cortes had stayed on board with the Vector and Cheng.

"Nice one, Mahad!" grinned Lena, giving her brother a hug.

"I take it you took care of that dragon thing?" Dahlia asked.

Mahad frowned and nodded. "It had it coming…"

"_Come in, this is Cortes…"_ squawked the radio on Christophe's hip.

Christophe grabbed it up. "Yeah, we hear you, brother."

"Oh great," Mahad rolled his eyes. "He's stuck on the ship, and he's still going to be bossing us around…"

Dahlia elbowed him.

"Hey!"

"_Alright, I want you to take a look around and try and find Wayan, or whoever's behind this. Radio back to me if you find anything._"

"Okay," said Christophe. "But I've been around here before, Aran. I think I'll be able to look out for myself and the others… why don't you take a nap or something?"

The radio crackled with static for a moment. "_Just radio back if you find anything worthwhile reporting_," Cortes replied, a slight edge to his voice.

Christophe sighed. "I was just being helpful… Alright," he said to the others. "We know this could be dangerous… those same defence machines that got Aran are around here too. A fair few of them, as far as I know. And I haven't seen the whole facility… so who knows what else. I guess since Mahad and I've already seen a bit, we can split up. One of you come with me, and the other go with Mahad…"

Lena bounced over beside Mahad. Dahlia shrugged, and went with Christophe.

"And at least try and keep in radio contact," Christophe shouted after Mahad. "At least so you don't stress out Aran."

Mahad sighed, waving Christophe off. "Yeah, yeah…"

----

"We'll head for Natasha's labs…" Christophe was saying to Dahlia. "Mahad and Lena should end up there too… only from the other side. We should be able to sweep most of the whole place…"

Dahlia nodded. "So… you're on a first name basis…"

"What? Oh… yeah…" Christophe winced. "Hey, look. I didn't know she was doing… all this…" he trailed off.

"Sorry…" said Dahlia, after a brief moment of silence. "I guess I wouldn't really know…"

Christophe shrugged, and forced a smile. "Hey… I guess it does look bad…"

"Look out!" Dahlia shouted suddenly.

A defence machine had just poked its head around a corner, identified them, and started stomping towards them.

Dahlia let an arrow loose into the beast's chest. It stumbled back, crashing into the side of the wall.

"Quick, down here!" Christophe pointed Dahlia down a hallway off to the left, and they both ducked down it. They dodged to the right, to the left again, and then came up against a locked door. "Oops…" said Christophe.

They both swung around and powered up their weapons. They could hear the machine down the hallway, searching for them.

"Maybe it won't find us…" Christophe muttered.

"We picked how to split up bad…" Dahlia growled.

"Hey, I'm sorry, alright? I don't remember this door being here…"

"No, I meant because Mahad and Lena both have a chance against these things… if they're not hurt by our weapons… we're done for…"

"I didn't think of that… but hey, don't be so negative. You've been hanging around Aran too long… there's got to be some way out of this…"

Dahlia drew her bow. "Better find it quick then."

The defence machine stomped around the corner, and faced the two down.

----

"You're getting good at defeating these things…" Lena muttered. She folded her arms, and looked down at the dismembered machine at Mahad's feet.

"It's not my fault they're so easy to pull apart…"

"It's not fair… you're getting to have all the fun."

"I'll leave the next one to you, shall I?"

"_How's it going down there?"_ said Cortes over the radio.

"We've barely been down here twenty minutes…" Mahad muttered.

"Leave him alone, Mahad. I'd bet Cortes would be down here if he could be."

"I guess…" Mahad picked up his handheld radio. "Yeah, we're fine. Run into a few defence machines… but haven't found anything else much."

"_Let me know as soon as you do."_

"Will do."

"Funny that Christophe didn't answer him…" said Lena.

"He probably has the sense to keep focused on what he's doing. Come on, I think we're nearly where the labs are supposed to be."

----

"You'll have to do for now." Natasha looked at one of her computers. The intruders were getting closer. And one of them seemed to have no trouble getting past the defence machines. A quick check of the surveillance cameras showed that this was because it was her missing subject. Well, at least she knew the last formula had been successful. At least so far.

The contraption holding Wayan tilted forward, and released its hold on Wayan.

Wayan stepped forward, as if he were going to stumble and fall. Instead, he managed to stand, though he didn't seem entirely focused.

"My defence machines aren't doing too well," Natasha told him. "They weren't really built to fight werewolves. You, on the other hand, should do quite well. I want you to find the boy, the one who's a werewolf. You are not to kill him, but I want you to bring him to me. Any other intruders you find… you may do with them as you see fit."

Wayan nodded, his eyes still not completely focused.

"Transform…" Natasha commanded.

Wayan shuddered, and then dropped to his knees. Fur began to sprout from his bare chest. Within seconds, he had completely changed. He stood back to his feet, now towering over Natasha.

"Go find them."

Wayan left the room. Even in his drugged up state, he was able to move almost silently.

"Good, now…" she turned back to her computer screen. "I think I should take care of this ship."

----

Cortes sat in the captain's chair on the Saint Nazaire, drumming his fingers on the armrest. He felt like pacing, but knew he'd just end up exhausting himself. Damn it, he hated waiting up here with nothing happening. And his chest was starting to bug him again, even with the painkillers.

He shifted in his chair. "It's too quiet out here…"

"Want to get in on the action, huh?" the Vector grinned.

Cortes glared at him. "You would think they would have tried to attack the ship again. We only took down two of those things. There were at least three… where's the other one?"

"I'm not picking up anything in the air…" said Cheng, looking at his screen. "Maybe it couldn't be bothered anymore?"

"Hmm…" Cortes didn't sound convinced.

Down in the docking bay, a half dozen small machines on caterpillar treads disconnected from previously concealed ports in the docking bay wall, and headed towards the Saint Nazaire. They were repair bots, designed to carry out repairs on any ship entering dock that needed it. They were old and rusted; they had not been used in many years. But they did not intend to perform any repairs on the Saint Nazaire.

Up on the bridge, something on Cheng's console bleeped.

"What was that?" Cortes asked.

The Vector leaned over Cheng's shoulder. "It's the weapons systems… there's a fault…"

Something else on the console bleeped, then it bleeped again.

"Now there's something wrong with the connections to the power cells…" said Cheng.

The lights on the bridge flickered.

"Okay, what the hell is going on with my ship?" Cortes snapped.

The Vector looked at Cheng's screen for a moment more. "Something's on the ship…" he finally said. "Probably from the docking bay… it's attacking the ship's systems…"

"Then let's get rid of it…" said Cortes, standing up. He grabbed up a gun and stomped down from the wheelhouse. Then grunted and put a hand to his chest.

"You stay here," said the Vector. He took the gun off Cortes. "I'll go take care of it."

"Are you sure you know how to use that?" Cortes retorted, still clutching his chest.

"Do you want me to help, or not?"

"Alright, go! But be careful."

"I'll come as well," said Cheng.

"Cheng…"

"Whatever it is can't hurt me," Cheng shrugged. He dashed out the bridge door before Cortes could stop him.

"It's just something attacking the systems, he'll be fine," said the Vector. "And I'll be with him."

"Then go," Cortes growled.

The Vector left the bridge.

Cortes sighed, and sat down on the edge of the wheelhouse.

----

Dahlia sent another arrow into the machine's chest. It stumbled back, but kept on coming.

"Hah!" said Christophe.

"Little help?" Dahlia growled, shooting the machine again.

Christophe used the muzzle of his gun to hit a metal panel on the ceiling. The panel disappeared up into the roof, revealing an air duct. "Come on, we'll get out through here…"

Dahlia turned around. "Can you fit in there?"

"I don't think we have much choice."

Dahlia nodded, and with a quick boost from Christophe jumped up into the opening in the duct. Christophe jumped up after her, caught the edge of he roof, and pulled himself up.

The machine skidded to a halt right beneath them, and snapped at Christophe's heels.

"Come on, hurry up!" said Christophe.

Dahlia crawled down the metal duct as quickly as she could. She could hear Christophe clattering behind her.

"Come on…" Christophe said again, sounding more desperate.

"I'm going!" said Dahlia. They had to be far enough away that the machine couldn't reach Christophe now, and there was no way it could follow them.

The duct shook and there was a loud clang. Dahlia glanced over her shoulder. There was a small dent in the bottom of the vent, right under Christophe. The machine hit the underside of the duct again, and the dent pushed in a little.

"It's tight enough in here already…" Christophe muttered, squeezing past the part of the duct that was beginning to constrict.

The machine hit the duct again, and then everything went quiet.

"Is it gone?" Dahlia asked.

"I don't know… maybe it gave up…"

The panel they had come in through clattered, and suddenly the machine's head was right up in the duct with them.

"Oh oh…" said Christophe.

"I don't think it can reach…"

A flame lit up at the tip of the machine's mouth.

"Move!" shouted Christophe.

Dahlia threw her body along the length of the duct, and spotted a corner ahead. She pulled herself around it, and then twisted around to help Christophe.

Christophe got most of his body around the corner, and reached out for Dahlia to help him.

Dahlia tugged, and Christophe got his legs around the corner just as a burst of flame impacted the far side of the vent wall, dramatically raising the temperature of the surrounding air.

"Gah!" said Christophe, pulling away and up against Dahlia.

"You alright?"

"I think my shoe's burning…" He kicked his boot against the wall of the vent. "Yeah, think so."

"We'd better get out of here," said Dahlia. "I don't know what's worse, meeting one of those things on the ground, or up here. And you can let go of my arm now."

"Heh. Sorry."

Christophe and Dahlia continued to crawl up the duct. The defence machine they had encountered seemed to not be smart enough to realise that just because they were out of sight, didn't mean they weren't there. It seemed to have given up the chase, or at least lost track of them.

----

"Are we nearly there, Mahad?" Lena asked.

"I think so," muttered Mahad. "I was only here once, and Christophe was finding the way… and he wasn't doing very well…"

Mahad and Lena walked past a darkened part of the hallway. As they passed, two points of light glinted in the darkness, and then went out.

"I _think_ we're on the right track…"

Suddenly, Lena screamed. "Mahad!"

Mahad whirled around, all his senses pricking up.

Lena had dove to the floor as a dark furry beast towered above her, swiping claws through the air where she'd been seconds before.

The beast snarled, and threw itself at her again.

Lena powered up a blast of Seijin energy, and hurled it at the creature, flinging it backwards.

The beast stood back up, and then its own arms began to glow faintly.

"Mahad…" Lena scrambled to her feet and started backing towards her brother. "I _think_ it's Wayan…"

Mahad grabbed his little sister's shoulders as she backed towards him.

Wayan howled, and fixed his eyes on Lena again.

"Oh no, not this time," Mahad growled. His body began to shudder.

Wayan slammed his glowing paws into the sides of the hallway, causing the corridor to shake and the walls to crack. Then he dashed forward.

Mahad flung Lena behind him, and leapt at Wayan. He was halfway through his transformation when he collided with the other man.

Wayan snarled, and pinned Mahad to the floor. He lifted a glowing paw, and swiped it across the boy's chest, leaving a bloodied tear.

Mahad yelled out in pain. But he had completed his transformation. The tear began to heal and he grabbed onto Wayan's paw, trying to push it back.

"Mahad!" Lena shouted.

"Go! Try to find the labs! I'll stop Wayan!" Mahad snarled. He'd take care of Wayan alright. He'd knock him out or something, and then they'd be able to help him. It wouldn't be hard, he'd cut through the defence machines like their metal skin was butter.

Mahad pushed back against Wayan, and flung him off, putting him off balance. He stood up, and slammed his shoulder into Wayan's chest.

Wayan made a rumbling noise, but the move didn't knock him to the floor as Mahad had intended.

Mahad stepped back, put out his claws, and took a swipe at Wayan's throat. Maybe he'd have to hurt him, but at least he could heal.

Wayan caught Mahad's paw, and then twisted Mahad's arm around until something in it snapped.

Mahad gasped, and twisted out from under Wayan, despite the fact it caused more bones to crack. What was going on? He was stronger now… Then Mahad realised. Wayan was a werewolf too. As a human, he had been a far stronger man then Mahad. They'd both been beefed up, but Wayan was still easily stronger. "Oh no…" muttered Mahad. "Wayan, stop, listen. Maybe we can work this out…" he said as he backed away.

Wayan glared at him, saliva dripping from his mouth. "Stop begging, and hold still…" he snarled, his voice deep and growly.

Mahad stopped. "What? Wait, did you just…" But then he was thrown to the floor again as Wayan pinned him, glowing claws digging into his shoulders.

Mahad pushed against him, letting out a whimper as the claws dug deep into his shoulder muscles. He wasn't quite sure, but it seemed to hurt a little bit longer then other times he'd been hurt.

Wayan leaned in and snapped at his throat.

Mahad pushed him back, but he felt himself weakening. Then his eyes caught sight of Wayan's glowing arms. He could do that too… couldn't he? He had to learn, and fast.

----

"There's something over there… by the electrical cabinets…"

Cheng and the Vector, down in the hold of the Saint Nazaire, both crept forward cautiously. There was a fair bit of noise coming from in the hold, and with some of the lighting down it was difficult to see.

"They're not big…" said Cheng. "We can get rid of them…" He moved forward.

"Careful…" said the Vector, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder and moving ahead of him. The Vector was starting to think Cheng was getting a little too confident down here… perhaps Cortes had been right to try get him to stay on the bridge. Or at least given him a gun.

One of the small creatures they had seen suddenly looked up, spotting them. It started to chatter frantically, and came towards them.

The Vector sent a blast into it, and it exploded into thousands of metal pieces.

"They're just repair bots…" said Cheng. He picked a piece of piping from the floor, possibly dislodged by the small robots.

The others robots seemed to realise one of their companions had been destroyed, and turned towards the Vector and Cheng as one. They had indeed been in the electrical cabinets, and many of the wires inside were letting off electrical sparks.

They all made the same chattering noise, and then dashed at the Vector and Cheng.

The Vector started shooting wildly, suddenly having to shoot multiple targets he wasn't entirely sure he could hit before they reached him. He managed to destroy or badly damage all but one, which dashed at Cheng, but the boy hit it squarely in the head with the metal pipe, and it collapsed on its side, circuits sparking as it chattered pathetically.

"Are you alright, Cheng?" the Vector asked.

"Yeah," said Cheng, dropping the pipe.

"We'd better fix this mess…" said the Vector, stepping over to the cabinets.

"You tell Cortes we've taken care of those robots… I'll try and figure out what to do with all the wires…"

"Alright then…" The Vector had no doubt that Cheng was capable of putting the damage wires back together. "Don't electrocute yourself…"

"It won't do anything to me anyway."

The Vector frowned, but left Cheng to it, and picked up his radio. "Cortes, we've taken care of everything down here. Some repair robots got onto the Saint Nazaire and were snipping wires… we're just going to fix it, and then everything should be alright. But I'd recommend pulling up the ramp."

"_Alright, Vector."_

"Cheng," said the Vector, putting the radio back in his pocket. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah… I guess." He paused for a moment, staring at the panel in front of him. "But if I'm going to be stuck as a werewolf… I just think I might as well make use of it. I can't really be hurt."

"You _can_ be hurt," said the Vector. "It just doesn't last very long. That doesn't mean you have to _let_ yourself be hurt. Just be careful with those wires, alright?"

Cheng nodded. "Okay. But I'm going to fix this… Cortes got hurt because of me… I can at least do something for him…"

"Hey, wait," said the Vector. "Cortes getting hurt was not your fault."

"He wouldn't have been so determined to stop the werewolves, and angry at them, if Wayan hadn't attacked me…" said Cheng.

"That still isn't your fault."

"I guess…"

The Vector sat down next to Cheng, and picked up the end of a wire. "Well, at least let me help."

----

Cortes let the handheld radio slip from his hand, and drop the foot or so to the deck. He was still sitting on the edge of the wheelhouse, not being bothered to move, because there really was no reason for him to. At least Cheng and the Vector had taken care of whatever it was had been eating at his ship. He just hoped the repair bots hadn't knocked out too many systems, but hopefully those systems would be online again soon, especially with Cheng and the Vector working on them.

Something on the central console bleeped. Cortes groaned with frustration, and pushed himself to his feet. He walked over to the console, and peered at the screen. The proximity systems were still working, at least. They had just picked up something flying towards the front of the Saint Nazaire.

Cortes tensed, and looked out the forward windows.

The last dragon was back, and it was flying right towards the Saint Nazaire!

"Damn it," Cortes growled. He dashed down to the forward consoles, panting for breath as he just made it into the pilot's seat. His chest suddenly felt like someone had a vice around it. He fought back tears in the corners of his eyes, and powered up the ship's forward weaponry. Or at least tried to. Nothing responded. A quick glance at the pilot's screen showed that the weapons were down.

The dragon opened its mouth, and swooped towards the broken window at the front of the bridge.

"Oh… shit!" Cortes spat out. He activated the radio. "Vector, whatever you're doing down there…" he drew in a breath, "get the weapons back online!"

Cortes looked back up, the dragon was right up on the bridge, about to launch its harpoons as they had done previously… only this one didn't appear as if it was going to stop.

Cortes' eyes widened, and he threw himself to the floor as the whole dragon smashed through the remains of the forward windows and grounded itself inside the bridge. Cortes hit the floor, sending a wave of pain through his whole body.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hold on a minute…" said Christophe.

Dahlia paused ahead of him in the air duct, craning her neck back over her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Shh…" whispered Christophe. He was peering through a grating on the side of the duct. "I think we're right on the labs now…"

"Good. Can we get out here, then?"

"No… Natasha's down there. She's alone… but I doubt she's as unprotected as she appears. It'd be better to surprise her. Go on, we'll find another way down."

They continued down the duct for another ten or twenty meters.

"Here?" Dahlia asked, pointing to a grating on the floor of the duct. "I think it's in the next room."

"Any defence machines?"

"No."

"We'll try that then."

Dahlia and Christophe dropped carefully from the ceiling, finding themselves in some sort of large storage area.

"What now?" Dahlia whispered.

Christophe took out his gun, crept to the door, and peeked around it. "She's busy with the computer… I don't think she heard us. I'm going to sneak in and try talking to her. Maybe I can distract her long enough to stop her calling any of her machines…"

"Alright…" said Dahlia, sounding a little unsure.

"Just wait here, so you don't frighten her. Come if I need back up…" Christophe slipped around the door, and into the other room.

Dahlia sighed, and stood by the door herself, peeking around it. Christophe didn't seem to think he needed her help, but she was pretty sure she'd have to offer it.

"Hello, Christophe," said the woman, without turning around.

Dahlia tensed, and gripped her weapon, getting ready. Yeah, Christophe defiantly wasn't as in control of the situation as he seemed to think.

"Heh… how did you…"

"My computer's picked up your heat signature when you came in the room," said Natasha, turning around.

Dahlia leaned back from the door slightly. Perhaps the woman's computers hadn't picked her up yet, but they would when she exited the storage area. She mentally took a note of that as she tried to figure out what to do.

"Well… I guess I do have a pretty big heat signature…"

"_I have a pretty big heat signature_?" Dahlia mouthed to herself, pulling a face.

"I'm sure you think you do," said Natasha. "Oh come on, I know you're not going to shoot me, Chris. Put down the gun."

"What this? Oh no, of course I wasn't going to shoot you, I just wanted to talk."

"About?"

"You said you wanted to tell me what was going on here? Well, I'm here now, and I'd like to know…"

"Like last time? I seem to remember you took off with my last subject. That's not the way to treat a woman, Christophe. We were supposed to be working together. You brought the Seijin DNA, and I'd be able to create my werewolves. I wanted to share that with you!"

"Hey, I'm here now…"

"Oh _great_," Dahlia growled to herself. Christophe was _supposed_ to be stopping the woman, not getting into a domestic argument with her.

"It doesn't matter," said Natasha. "I've perfected the virus. Once I deliver the formula to the Sphere, they'll have an unstoppable soldier, and they'll _have_ to recognise all my efforts here."

"You… completed it?" said Christophe, sounding nervous. "But… how is that possible… are you sure?"

"Positive," Natasha smiled unnervingly. "You may have taken away my first perfect subject, Christophe, but I found another. In fact, he came here all by himself. He _is_ the perfect Sphere soldier. I've run the tests. All but one… we'll see how he fares against the other werewolf. Either way, whichever one survives, he'll be the one to showcase my formula to the Sphere."

"I…" said Christophe, looking at the floor.

"What's wrong, you sound upset. I couldn't have done this without you…" Natasha walked up to Christophe.

"I didn't know you'd succeed!" Christophe snapped.

Suddenly, Natasha had his gun. He'd been so distracted, he hadn't realised she'd been close enough to grab it. Now, she pointed it at him. "No one thought I'd succeed, Christophe. Well, guess what? I did…"

The door to the lab's storage area was flung open, and a sliver of yellow energy plunged across the room and into Natasha's chest.

The scientist dropped the gun, and slid to the floor.

Dahlia lowered her bow, looking hard at Christophe. "You _were_ working with her… bringing her Seijin DNA?"

Christophe turned away from her. "I didn't know it would work," he growled, not looking at her.

Dahlia frowned. "What did you hope to accomplish then?"

"Just…" Christophe shook his head. "Look, I don't know. But don't tell Aran, alright?"

Dahlia shrugged, though she seemed a little unsure. "Yeah… okay."

Christophe blew out a puff of air. "Thanks…"

"It's probably something you need to tell him yourself."

----

"Just what exactly are you saying!?" someone shouted from down in the crowd.

Half a dozen similar comments followed, until the crowd settled. Practically everyone from the village of Marquis was gathered in the town square. The area wasn't particularly small, but right now it seemed packed. Andrew and Lizzie stood at the top of the staircase of one of the more prominent buildings. Jack stood slightly below them, with arms folded and a stern look. He could do little physically against a crowd this size if they got rowdy, but knew from experience that a good long glare would slow down anybody who wanted to get more rowdy than Jack thought was acceptable. Of course, none of them would, but it didn't hurt to make sure.

"That's right; Julian has been lying to us…."

"So the werewolves aren't real?"

"No, they are," Lizzie clarified. "But they're not big bad monsters in the dark… the Sphere is behind them. As is Julian."

"But why would he do that!?"

"I'm not entirely sure… he has been letting the Sphere get away with taking people from our village for use in their experiments… making them werewolves."

The crowd seemed uncomfortable.

"Yes, but can you prove it?!" someone shouted. "I trust you, Andrew, you too Lizzie… but we've been somewhat safe, staying inside after dark and everything. What if we believe what you're telling us and it just ends up hurting our families more?"

"Isn't living in hiding hurting your families?" Andrew asked. "And yes, I think we can prove it. From what I've been hearing… and how I've seen Julian acting lately… on top of some of the evidence these pirates have come up with… well, I believe them…"

"But they're outsiders!"

"Outsiders who have been willing to help. They've gone to find this Sphere base now. Their ship will have taken readings… perhaps photographs… if you want concrete proof, then there'll it be."

"I think you're relying just a little too heavily on the stories these pirates have been telling, Andrew."

Andrew and Lizzie both turned, as did the entire village. Julian had just stepped onto the edge of the stage.

Andre' walked up behind him, but hung back.

Jack jumped up, suddenly alert. "How did you get out?" he asked tersely.

"Relax, relax," said Julian, holding his hands up to show he had no weapons. He came and stood beside Andrew and Lizzie. "Yes, Jack here thought locking me away would keep me from looking out for my people… don't worry, I know you were just doing you're job, Jack. It's alright…"

Jack caught the eye of Andre' from across the stairway, and glared at the man hard. He was fairly certain he now knew how the mayor had gotten out.

"You're right, it's fine," said Andrew stiffly. "Well, seeing you're here, why don't you explain a few things to you're 'people'? We all have a few questions…"

"Mayor, Andrew and Lizzie say you've been helping the Sphere… and letting them take us for experiments… is this true?" a woman asked.

"Yeah!" a man shouted, a little more sharply. "You promised you'd make sure the Sphere didn't take out children to the Guardian school… how is selling them out for experimentation any better?!"

"Alright… so you're all _sure_ I've been selling you out to the Sphere?" Julian asked. "You trust Andrew and Lizzie's word over mind… no, you trust the word of a bunch of pirates, of outsiders, over mine?"

No one from the crowd answered immediately.

"I'm convinced by the evidence the pirates have shown me," said Lizzie. "Now, who trusts _my_ judgment?"

"Heh…" said Julian, before anyone could answer. "This is getting us nowhere… this is all heresay… of pirates, no less… pirates who _attacked_ me…"

"You set your machine on the pirates!" Andrew snapped. "_Not_ the other way around!"

"In self defence…"

"… because they were getting too close to the truth, right?" Lizzie pressed.

"This is ridiculous!" Julian snapped. "You have no right to accuse me of this!"

"We'll find out soon enough anyway," said Andrew. "The pirates are headed to your Sphere friend's base… lets see what they find, shall we?"

"They'll find _nothing_! I bet they won't even return… don't you think they have other things to worry about over us? Like stealing water or something? In the end, I think it comes down to who all of you believe… your loyal and honest Mayor of many years, or these two…"

"That's a little harsh…" someone near the front of the crowd muttered.

"And who do _you_ believe?" Julian snapped. These idiots! He was getting frustrated now. And he was never at his best when he was frustrated. Didn't they realise he was trying to help them. And this is the thanks he got!

The complainer in the crowd didn't answer.

"I think I'd rather believe Andrew and Lizzie…"

Julian turned around. Andre' had stepped up onto the steps, where he could be seen a little more easily. "You told me Andrew and Lizzie were working with the Sphere. That _they_ were the ones making the werewolves… this doesn't look like helping the Sphere. You were trying to manipulate me… and I know I'm not this bloc's most outstanding example of a fine officer," here, he glanced briefly over at Jack. "But I'm not stupid, nor that drunk right now…"

At this, the crowd seemed to gain confidence. Funnily enough, whilst they trusted Andrew and Lizzie far more, Andre's statement was what seemed to push them off the fence.

"Yeah, Julian!" said Geoffrey from the front of the crowd. "What reason do you have to lie? What are you hiding!?"

"This is the thanks I get!?" Julian snarled. "I've protected you people for over ten years!"

"By letting the Sphere take people whenever they wanted for experiments?" Lizzie asked.

"It was for your own good!" Julian snapped. Damn this whole bloc! He'd had to keep his dealings with the Sphere secret for so long, and just like he'd expected, once the truth had come out, his people hated him. Ungrateful…

"Do you think its easy trying to protect this bloc from the Sphere?! I had to make compromises! Why do you think we just manage to have enough water to live comfortably… and other blocs have barely enough to survive? And the Sphere rarely takes your Seijin children, why do you think that is, hmm? One thing they asked for, one _little_ thing. Maybe a few people got taken for experimentation, but they would have been taken anyway! This way, at least we got something in return! Trust me; you do not want to get on the wrong side of the Sphere!"

"So why didn't you tell us?" Geoffrey snapped back from the crowd. "We've been running around like scared rabbits for years!"

"What!? And have you all react like this!? What are a few people for the good of the rest of this bloc…"

"One of those people was my daughter!" Andre' snarled from behind the mayor.

Jack grabbed Andre around the waist. "Hey, easy… not like this…"

Andre' had thrown himself forward, and was trying to pull out the gun strapped around his waist, but Jack was managing to hold him back.

"Fine!" Julian snapped, stepping a little bit back from the angry man. "See how you lot handle the Sphere on your own!" He grabbed the weapon he had by his side and waved it at the edge of the crowd. The people there crushed back, though it didn't really look as if Julian intended to shoot anybody. Julian leapt down from the steps, and took off.

"It's alright, I'll get him," said Jack. He let go of Andre' and ran after the mayor.

"Alright, everybody, calm down!" Andrew was shouting at the crowd. "I know this is a shock to everyone…"

----

Cheng and the Vector dashed onto the bridge to find everything a mess. The front of the bridge was completely smashed, and a smouldering hulk of metal that appeared to have once been one of the flying machines lay to the left of the centre console. Its head was completely unrecognisable, destroyed by an excessive number of blasts from an energy weapon.

"Cortes!" Cheng exclaimed.

Cortes sat with his back against the wall, a very large gun in his lap. He was breathing heavily, and looked exhausted.

"You alright?" Cheng asked, giving Cortes a careful squeeze.

"Yeah… fine…" Cortes panted.

"You need to rest," said the Vector. "What happened?"

Cortes glared at him; he didn't have enough breath to give a complete explanation.

"It's alright... I suppose it's obvious…"

Cortes made an attempt to push himself back up, but then grunted and slumped back down, his eyes squeezed shut tightly.

"Cortes…" the Vector said more firmly, "just rest. You don't have to do anything; we can take care of things."

Cortes just nodded.

The Vector stepped around the dead machine, and prodded the central console. "This is the Vector. Dahlia? Mahad? Come in…"

Cheng took the big gun off Cortes, and then sat down next to him. It didn't look like he planned on moving until he was certain Cortes was feeling okay.

----

Mahad snarled. He was straining against Wayan with all his might, but was only barely keeping him back. What would happen if Wayan _really_ ripped him open? Would he be able to heal? Mahad wasn't sure, but he knew it would hurt, so he sure as hell didn't want to find out.

"Mahad!" Lena shouted from behind him.

"Stay back!" Mahad snapped.

A blast of light shot over his shoulder, hitting Wayan in the side.

Wayan yelped, but didn't get off Mahad. He turned and growled at Lena.

"He can't hurt me; but he _can_ hurt you!"

"I don't _care_!" Lena snapped. She hurled another blast of light.

Wayan swiped his paw, and Lena's blast bounced of it and into the wall. Now, he had his attention on her. "You're going to pay for that…" he growled.

"No!" snarled Mahad. Suddenly he felt a rush of power. He hauled his body up and slammed his paws into Wayan. Two shafts of blue energy burst out of his paws and hurled Wayan back.

Wayan smashed into the wall behind him, leaving a body shaped dent. He fell to all fours, disorientated, then shook his head and focused again on Mahad.

Mahad hauled himself up. "Go, Lena! Find Dahlia and Christophe and tell them we've found Wayan." Now, he didn't doubt his ability to subdue Wayan. He hoped his little sister didn't either.

Lena seemed unsure for a brief moment, but then nodded and ran off up the hallway.

"Come on, Wayan," said Mahad. "We don't have to fight, we're on the same side, remember?"

Wayan growled. "I'm going to destroy you…"

"Why!?" Mahad demanded. "Why do you want to destroy me?"

Wayan rumbled, but didn't seem to be able to come up with an answer.

"I've got the same thing as you, Wayan. Yeah, I know it makes you feel all like… wanting to kill and eat stuff… but you can control it. You're a nice guy, Wayan, you don't have to try and kill me…"

Wayan growled, taking half a step closer, and Mahad's arms started to glow blue in response. But then Wayan paused. "She… wants me to take you alive… but I want to destroy you… and yet… I don't…"

"Of course you don't. I told you, you're a nice guy…"

"I'm a _monster_!" Wayan snarled. "Look at me!"

"Hey… what about me? I don't look much better…" Mahad shrugged. "Look, I guess we have to deal with this, at least until someone finds a cure. But we're not monsters; we're still human, same as Seijins… I guess we're just a little uglier… I mean you must be learning to control it. You were like an animal before, but you can at least speak now…"

"That wasn't me," Wayan explained. "The woman that invented this thing captured me... I think she gave me a different strain. It's easier to control, but I still wanted to hurt you…"

"Do you want to hurt me now?"

"I…" Wayan paused, and then his shoulders slumped. "Of course not." The creature almost seemed to shrink, and then all that was standing there was a man. "We've got to find the woman that did this… get her to tell us how to fix it…"

Mahad nodded, and turned back human as well. "That's what we're trying to do. Come on. Christophe and Dahlia are down here too; maybe they've found her already."

----

"Guys! Mahad's found Wayan!" Lena shouted as she tore around the corner and into the laboratory.

Dahlia turned from her inspection of a computer console. "Is he alright?"

"He's attacking Mahad. Mahad was trying to stop him, but he might be too strong…"

"Okay," said Dahlia. She grabbed her weapon from her back, and activated it. "Which way?"

Christophe snorted. "If Mahad's having trouble with this guy, what do you expect to be able to do?"

"You could help," Dahlia growled. "And it doesn't hurt to try."

"Alright, alright. If you must go after them, I'd better stay here and keep an eye on Natasha… unless Lena wants to stay and…"

"I'm going back to try and help my brother!" Lena said firmly.

"Okay," Christophe sighed, watching the two hurriedly leave. "At least you'll have a bit more fun then babysitting…"

Natasha shifted slightly on the floor, and moaned.

"Yeah… you'd better not get up to quickly," Christophe muttered. "Could be a bit dizzy. You're not getting away either… can't believe I helped you with this…" He watched the woman for a moment, but she had simply moved to sitting position, and looked around blearily, saying nothing. Christophe relaxed, and leaned back against one of the work benches.

----

"Mahad, are you alright!?" Lena exclaimed. She dashed into her brother's open arms. She'd simply walked around the corner, and there he was, back in human form.

"Wayan," said Dahlia, seeing the man hanging back behind Mahad in the shadows. "We've been looking everywhere for you, are you alright?"

Wayan smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks to Mahad… and maybe even that scientist…"

"Natasha?" said Dahlia. "What did she do to you?"

"I think she gave me the same thing she gave Mahad… now I can control the werewolf… somewhat…"

"So there's hope for Cheng…"

"I guess… but I tried asking her about a cure before. I honestly don't think she has one."

"Then we'll find out for sure," said Dahlia determinedly. "We're all here now, Wayan, and we've already captured Natasha. Even if she won't tell us anything, we'll still be able to search this place's computer systems. We have to able to find _something_ of use."

Wayan nodded. "I guess it's worth a try…"


	16. Chapter 16

Jack skidded around the corner of one of Marquis' streets. Julian was leading him on a twisted path through the village streets. Both of them knew those streets well. It was just a matter of who would be able to outrun, or outsmart the other.

Jack was fairly certain he was fitter than Julian.

They were nearly at the dockyards. Jack guessed Julian must be trying to find a ship and escape the bloc. But he'd reach him first.

"Just stop, Julian! You know you're not going to get away!" he shouted after the mayor.

Julian glanced over his shoulder, then skidded to a half, spun around, and fired a blast of energy from his weapon at Jack.

Jack threw himself to the side. Damn. Julian really wanted to get away, and he wasn't going to make this easy. He landed behind a large refuse bin, and stuck his head around the edge to pinpoint Julian. He was backing away, wary of Jack still. How would he get to him without getting shot? He didn't know if the weapon was on stun; perhaps he'd have to use his own.

Jack didn't have to make that decision, because suddenly Julian was thrown to the ground by a body.

"Hey!" Jack shouted. This time, he didn't hesitate, and took out his weapon as he jogged from his hiding spot. It took Jack a moment to realise the man that had attacked Julian was Andre.

"Andre get off him!" snapped Jack.

The two rolled around on the ground for a moment, until Julian eventually got the upper hand.

"Is this how you want to do this, huh Jack?" Julian growled. "Set your officers on me when no ones around!?" He had Andre around the throat now, and his weapon pressed to the side of his head. "Back off! I'm getting out of here! You lot can fend for yourselves!"

"We'll do better than with you!" Andre gurgled. "You sold us out! I'll _kill_ you!"

"Settle down!" Jack snapped, to both men.

Julian hauled Andre to his feet, and started to back away towards the ships. "Put down your weapon Jack. Of Andre is going to get it…"

"Just take it easy…" said Jack, slowing in his advance. He wasn't exactly sure whether Julian would hurt Andre or not. In the last few days, he'd certainly proved he wasn't quite the man Jack had always thought he'd been.

"Get him… _kill_ him!" Andre snarled, struggling. "Don't worry about me!"

"Just let me go, Jack. And no one gets hurt… you know I don't really want to hurt anyone, right?"

Jack scowled, and lowered his gun to the ground. "Alright, Julian. Look… I'm letting you go…"

"No!" Andre snarled, and rammed his body hard back against Julian. They'd backed away right to the edge of the docks now.

Julian stumbled back, still determined not to let go of his hostage. His boot slipped on the stones at the edge of the dock, which clattered over the edge, bouncing on a few rocky outcrops before falling into empty space.

"Just be careful…" Jack started.

Andre looked over his shoulder, and saw where they stood. He gritted his teeth, and pushed back. "You're finished, Julian!"

Jack dashed for the edge of the dock, but he already knew he was too late. Both Julian and Andre tumbled over. Jack got there just in time to see their bodies land with a crack on a ledge before sliding off and into the depths of Skyland.

"Andre!" he found himself shouting out over the edge, though he knew it would do little good. He gritted his teeth and turned away. "Damn it!" He should've been able to stop this… and it sure as hell wasn't going to look good.

----

Christophe yawned. He was starting to think he should go check on what the kids were doing… they'd been gone awhile. At least it seemed awhile, it probably hadn't actually been so long. He knew he had to stay put; he wouldn't put it past Natasha to try something when he was gone.

"I bet you're very pleased with yourself…" growled Natasha from the floor.

"Ah, so you're a bit more awake now? Don't worry, I'm sure Aran isn't going to hurt you… we just need you to figure out how to fix his crew you infected… you created this thing, I'm guessing you shouldn't find it too hard to fix."

"And if I refuse?"

Christophe shrugged. "I guess you'll have to ask Aran when you see him…"

Natasha shook her head. "You did help me you know, Christophe."

"I wouldn't if I'd known…"

"Known what, exactly?" Natasha asked. She glanced around her lab for a moment. "It doesn't matter… I'm not going to let you take me…" She pushed herself shakily up from the floor.

Christophe sighed. "Oh, come on! You're in no shape to be doing that… Hey…"

Natasha had pushed herself up to nearly a standing position, but then her legs wobbled and she crashed down on the edge of one of the benches, scattering a few loose needles and other equipment as she fell.

"Careful!" said Christophe, grabbing her so she wouldn't hurt herself further.

Suddenly, Natasha whipped a hand around, wielding one of the needles. She buried almost the entire stem in Christophe's backside.

Christophe's eyes widened, and he glanced down, for a brief moment not entirely sure what had just happened. "Oh… shit…" he winced as he saw the needle. His legs started to feel weak and shake, and then slipped right out from under him as he crashed to the floor.

"Well, look at that, there's a little bit of a gentleman in you after all," Natasha smirked. She'd dropped all pretence of being weak, and now stood tall above Christophe.

Christophe rubbed his legs; he couldn't move them at all. "What'd you do…?"

"Relax, it'll wear off. You're lucky I didn't kill you. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get out of here before your friends get back…"

Christophe rolled his eyes. "Our ship is right outside; you won't get out. Besides, what're you going to do if you _do_ get out of here? The Sphere doesn't really want you; they're not going to support your research anymore. As far as they'll be concerned you've failed; you're no better than a common hack!"

Natasha scowled. "I am _not_ a hack!" She turned on Christophe and rammed a boot into his stomach. "Don't ask me what I saw in you…"

"Okay…" Christophe coughed, unable to move enough to stop the assault, "… won't…"

Natasha stomped out of the lab, leaving Christophe on the floor.

Christophe coughed again, and then tried to shift himself up. His legs weren't responding to him at all, but at least he could still pull himself around so he was almost sitting upright.

At that moment Wayan, Mahad, Lena and Dahlia made it back to the lab.

"Hey, are you alright!?" asked Lena, halting.

"… where'd the woman go?!" Dahlia demanded, looking about the room.

"I'm fine… she got the jump on me and got away…" grumbled Christophe, shifting uncomfortably. "She went that way… barely a moment ago…"

"Come on," said Dahlia, gesturing to Wayan. They both dashed out of the lab in the direction Christophe had indicated.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lena asked again.

Mahad blinked. "Um… Christophe?"

"Yeah?"

"You've got a needle, ah… stuck in your butt…"

"Yeah, thanks, Mahad…"

----

Dahlia and Wayan dashed through the corridors.

"Which way did she go!?" Dahlia growled, "This place is like a maze!"

Wayan paused, and sniffed the air. "I think… this way…" he went ahead of Dahlia down one of the passageways.

Dahlia followed him, wondering if she'd ever get used to him doing stuff like that. She shook down the thought; he was still Wayan.

The two pirates entered what looked like a small hanger bay.

"Can you see anything?" Dahlia asked. It was pitch black.

"Yeah, looks like she's got some sort of machines or small ships in here. But I can't see her…"

Dahlia sighed, and located a light switch. Apparently Wayan could also see better in the dark now. She flicked the switch, and the bay was flooded in light.

"Sorry…" muttered Wayan, blinking a couple of times.

The two worked their way carefully along the small hanger. It was true, Natasha had completely disappeared.

"Are you _sure_ she came this way?" Dahlia asked.

"Positive…" Wayan muttered, sniffing around a bit again.

Dahlia walked past a few of the machines. "These are the same ones that took Mahad…" She thought for a moment. "So they'd be able to carry a single person…" She pulled out her radio.

"Cortes, this is Dahlia, come in…"

The radio crackled with static. "_This is the Vector, Dahlia. Is everything all right?_"

"Yes, we're all fine. And we've found Wayan. We also found the scientist who runs this place, but I think she's escaped in one of those metal dragons we were fighting before. Do you see any exiting the base?"

----

The Vector peered out the window of the bridge. "I don't…" A glint caught his eye against the rock wall. "Wait, I think I do see one of those machines. It doesn't appear to be trying to attack us though…"

"_She must be in it, Vector. You have to stop her."_

The Vector watched the small flying machine turn in the air, and then accelerate away under power from its thrusters. It wanted to get away fast. He sighed. "I'm sorry, Dahlia. I think it might be too fast. We can track it and see if we can figure out where it's going…" He looked around the battered bridge. "… but right now the Saint Nazaire is in a bit of a mess."

----

Natasha pulled away from the machine's metal side. She was guessing it was going to get pretty hot in here, and the machine's insides completely stank. But she had to get away. She'd be unable to steer the dragon as she would a ship, but had told it where to take her, and was fairly confident it would carry her there with little incident.

She growled again, and tried to make herself comfortable. The pirates would regret the day they ever interfered with her. Especially Christophe. She pulled a vial from her pocket, and looked at it in the dim light.

Yes, she would make certain the full potential of her creation would be realised.

----

The Saint Nazaire drifted calmly across the blue sky. It's Captain, however, did not seem quite so calm.

"I can't believe they refused to help us _again_," Cortes grumbled. He sat in his Captain's chair, his arms folded tightly across his chest. His ribs were hurting him again, which wasn't helping his mood.

"I'm not sure we can hold that against them this time," said the Vector. "They've got a lot on their plate right now. I'm sure a few people are suspicious about Julian's death. Andrew and Lizzie have to look after the whole bloc now. And they've got to figure out what to do about the Sphere. They may not be able to hold onto as much water now… who knows what other deals Julian may have had going with them. I really don't think they have the time to help figure out a cure for this."

"Aye, but they quite happy to get the information off of you once _you've_ figured it out."

"Well, I'd hardly keep it to myself…" sighed the Vector.

"The sooner we can fix Cheng… and Mahad and Wayan, the better."

"Hey, Cortes!" Cheng appeared at the base of the wheelhouse. "I think I've worked out how to change when I want now."

Cortes allowed himself a slight smile. "That's great, lad…"

"And Mahad's going to show me how to blast things too!" he grinned and ran off.

"Just don't…" Cortes called after him, but then cut himself short as he decided it wasn't really worth the effort.

"Hey, relax," said Christophe, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "At least he seems happy."

"At least Wayan let us know Mahad's version of the virus cancelled out his… I doubt Cheng'd be so happy if he turned into an uncontrollable monster every night."

Down at the Saint Nazaire's forward controls Wayan gripped his control stick tighter as he heard his Captain's words.

Dahlia caught the movement from the corner of her eye. "Hey," she whispered, touching a hand to his shoulder. "It isn't your fault, you know."

Wayan smiled back at her. "Yeah, I know. Thanks. But maybe it is… I should've been able to control it anyway."

"Of course you couldn't… but you _can_ control it now." She shrugged. "We did manage to help Marquis out. I'm sure they're better off now than they were before. And I'm sure the Vector will be able to figure out a cure."

"I guess… the sooner the better."

"Well… maybe for now, I mean when the Vector's still searching for a cure, you could think of it as a bit of an advantage. Guardians aren't much of a threat to you now. And you'd be unmatched at night time… well, except for Oslo…"

"I suppose I can't think of it like that… but only until the Vector finds a cure."

"Mahad and Cheng don't seem so bothered anymore…"

It was at that moment that there was a loud bang from the back of the bridge, causing everyone to jump.

"Sorry!" Cheng shouted to the startled glances.

"Cheng!" Cortes growled back, then coughed.

"My bad," said Mahad. "Don't worry, he didn't break anything… that looked important… what does this gauge do?"

Cortes sighed.

"Alright," said Christophe, glancing at his brother. "I think it's bedtime for you…"

Cortes glared at him, but didn't give any argument. He _was_ tired. "Alright, fine." He stood up from the Captain's chair. It was already dark. He didn't want his crew worrying if he was overtired, or whatever else they might find to worry about.

He headed down to his cabin, with Christophe following him.

"You know, I don't really need you to tuck me in either," Cortes growled.

Christophe sighed. "Hey, look, I just want to make sure you're alright… you took quite a beating down there… and your heart stopped…"

"It's wasn't that bad."

"Yeah, well it looked like it when you weren't breathing in my arms," Christophe muttered.

Cortes shut his eyes briefly. "Alright, I'm sorry… thanks. But I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay, if you say so. Just remember, you're big brother's here if you need him."

"You make it hard to forget," Cortes shot back.

"Night," Christophe smiled.

"Goodnight." Cortes closed his cabin door, leaving Christophe outside in the night air.

Christophe sighed. Aran still seemed a little uncomfortable around him. Maybe he was still angry at him, for Ronston, or who knew what else. And he still hadn't worked up the nerve to tell him he'd been involved with Natasha's experiments. Perhaps Aran had already guessed. It hadn't been much, but Christophe was certain Aran wouldn't approve. So he hadn't brought it up. Perhaps it'd be easier to just let it slide. Christophe just hoped it didn't come it, didn't affect anything, he didn't want anything else to come between him and his brother.

He'd already decided he'd stay on Puerto Angel for a little while. At least until Aran was feeling a little better. Maybe they'd be able to patch things up.

Christophe paused in his walk along the deck of the Saint Nazaire, and turned and leaned on the railing, looking out into the night sky. So much space… better than his rust bucket of a ship, which was now sitting in the hold of the Saint Nazaire like a useless piece of scrap metal. Maybe that was all it was good for…

He rubbed his arm absentmindedly. There was a slight itch there, and it'd been strangely bothering him on and off, ever since Mahad had accidentally hooked his claws into him when pulling him over that wall. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and Christophe yanked up his sleeve.

The scratches were gone. Christophe turned his arm over; perhaps he'd just forgotten where they were. And then moonlight touched his bare skin, and his arm started to glow the faintest blue.

"Shit…" Christophe tugged his sleeve down hastily, and then looked around him. No one was around, no one had seen him.

_Perhaps_, Christophe thought, as he pulled up his sleeve again and looked at the slight glow, _I shouldn't tell Aran about this either._

**THE END**


End file.
